Greetings faithful readers and true believers. I apologize for the delay, but meh life and stuff, pretty sure I warned you.

Chapter 3

Joker pinched the bridge of his nose before slowly shaking his head. "Starboard? You would divert emergency power to the starboard thrusters? Did you want to kill your entire crew?"

"I-I-I mean port sir?"

"Port? You must really be a sick twisted sick-o," Joker shot back.

"Then what sir?"

"Starboard obviously," he said simply. "Never second guess yourself, your gut is usually right…usually. Now get out of here."

The class swiftly exited the room much to Joker's relief. Slowly making his way to his desk, he sat down with a very exaggerated sigh and his head sank into his hands. The hands that once piloted the finest frigate in the universe were now relegated to typing up lesson plans. The fingers that once swiftly flew over control buttons now merely pointed at holographic displays and students with questions.

The hands that once touched a certain Commander Sh-

Stop!

Joker sighed again and started drumming his fingers on the desk while leaning back. Things had swiftly circled the drain following the funeral. Garrus avoided C-Sec like the plague and disappeared following a small gathering at Joker's apartment in the wards. Tali had accompanied the turian in order to hitch a ride to the Flotilla. Wrex left after getting very, very drunk and almost cried when he said that he should start living up to Shepard's expectations. Liara vowed to study why Joker's condition was reverting to before her "treatment." It only lasted so long, but he did not mind as long as things stayed the way they were. Currently, he could as Liara predicted walk without crutches, but with a considerable limp. Ashley was the worst: simply disappearing. But Joker knew that something was up. Good marines do not just up and disappear unless they get reassigned to something classified.

As for Joker? He got grounded. Apparently his mental state was deemed "unfit for duty," and so was unable to get a new assignment. Luckily, the new councilor Anderson was able to pull some strings and get him an instructor position at Arcturus Station. So now the best pilot that the Alliance had to offer was stuck teaching the newest ship jocks. That was about a year and a half ago.

Joker slowly got up from his desk and made his way towards his Alliance provided flat. As the door swished opened the former pilot felt nothing but bad vibes coming from the small flat. With only a bathroom, a small kitchen, and cot squeezed into a corner, there was not much to investigate and few place to hide. But still, Joker was not taking any chances and slowly drew his sidearm.

"Are you always this cautious Mr. Moreau? Or should I call you Joker?" asked a voice emanating somewhere from the far corner where the cot was.

Joker? Nobody has called me that here.

Just play it cool.

What would Laura say?

"You seem to have me at a disadvantage," he stalled as he attempted to point his gun in towards the source of the noise.

"Indeed? And yet you do not a have a gun pointed about ten feet to your right," commented a voice that Joker decided was female with an Australian accent.

"Alright," he said, adjusting his heading. "You obviously aren't threatened. What do you want?"

The lights flicked on to reveal a woman sitting at the edge of his bed. She had black hair and a skintight white uniform that barely covered her. And of course there was the gun pointed at him. "Not pointed ten feet to my right but directly at me?"

"Correct," she said curtly. "Sit, we have something to discuss."

"Gun first," Joker said with a gulp. It had been awhile since he was out in the field.

"Very well," the mystery woman said as she holstered it…somewhere. The pilot cautiously sat in the only chair in the flat. "I work for Cerberus an-"

"No."

"You haven't even heard the off-"

"As much as chasing Saren was our top priority, we still ran into Cerberus more than enough times. Rachni, thresher maws, Thorian creepers, you killed people. A lot of people," he countered.

"What other cells do is not my concern," she said. "What if I told you that we could get you flying again?"

"And what? Work for you?" he snorted.

"In a matter of speaking. We will provide the ship, but you will report to someone that will be given practically free reign. Someone you know."

"Somebody I know? Anyone of the Normandy crew would never work for Cerberus," he said, his mouth going dry.

"Not unless they had somebody to lead them. Somebody they knew. But not all of your old crew will be joining you," she said, hunching over and smirking.

"Ha! The only person they would trust would be Com…mander…Shepard," Joker did not like the wicked gleam in the woman's eyes.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Miranda Lawson."

"But, but, but, but Laura is…" he could not finish and merely looked at his feet.

"Dead? True, and she still technically is. But my cell within Cerberus is dedicated to rectifying this situation," she explained.

"Cloning?"

"No, complete reconstruction."

"But her body was not recovered by the…Alliance," he slowed. "You stole her body?"

"Actually, we simply searched longer. We acquired her body through Liara T'Soni, after she escaped the Shadow Broker of course. But that's not what's important," Miranda said.

"Why go through all the trouble? Trying to bring somebody back from the dead? Must cost more than five Normandies, something must be going on," Joker said suspiciously.

"Human colonies are disappearing," said the Cerberus operative. "Not being attacked, but the colonists simply disappearing. The Lazarus Project is intent on bringing back Commander Shepard to investigate this."

"How…how close?" he gulped out.

"She woke up last night but," she said, holding up a hand. "It was too early. She will not be ready for another few weeks. Interested?"

"Lemme, make sure I've got everything," the pilot said counting out on his finger. "I disappear from here, I will be employed by Cerberus; a shady organization, I will report to Laura, and she's being brought back from the dead, and all this to go off on another mission to save the universe?"

Miranda nodded.

Joker smirked, "Just another day."

*****OMG Time Lapse******

Joker was nervous. He knew Laura was in the next room, talking to The Illusive Man, but he was not to enter until the doors opened. But he could hear everything. Finally, the doors swooshed open, and Joker limped though. She was still facing where The Illusive Man's hologram disappeared. She looked just as beautiful as when he last saw her. There were new scars on her face from the Lazarus Project, but those would heal. And even though he was trying to think of something perfect to say when he was told to wait his mind drew a blank. Nothing witty, nothing romantic or even funny but he had to say something.

"Hey Commander. Just like old times, huh?"

Well I hope you all liked that. Either way, review and offer whatever you want: flames, praise, advice, encouragement, or nonsensical awesomeness. Ttfn