A/N Just to let you know I have edited the previous chapter, nothing too durastic – about an extra 200 ish words in the last scene. Anyway, on with this chapter.

13th June 2188 – Crucible pulse + 20 months

"C'mon Lizzie, open wide," Shepard moved the spoon in front of Elizabeth's mouth, pushing it lightly against her lips. Her mouth stayed stubbornly shut however, she even began to tilt her head away from it whilst giving him a cold glare. "Seriously, eat it. Please?"

He still had no luck so he pulled the spoon back with a frown, trying to come up with a plan. The baby was very stubborn about eating her food whenever he tried to get her to eat, even Miranda struggled to get her to eat on occasions. It often took a lot of coaxing before she would try even one mouthful, though Shepard couldn't blame her – the food smelt rather disgusting.

"Please Lizzie, for my sake just eat a little bit," He got a grin in reply. "Honestly, your mum will be really annoyed with me."

He tried to push the spoon against her lips once more, but again Elizabeth wouldn't accept it. She screamed rather noisily and banged her arms on the table of her high chair in protest, prompting Shepard to sigh in resignation and drop the spoon again. He reassessed the situation once more, clearly pleading wouldn't work.

"Right Elizabeth, if you don't eat this food then I'll...I'll...erm.." He scratched his head, what could you do to threaten a baby? It wasn't as if he could ground her or anything. "I'll take away your plushy toys!"

Elizabeth looked him dead in the eyes, widening her own cerulean orbs whilst pouting her lips. Shepard's heart melted at the sight, it was rather cute.

"I didn't mean that Lizzie, sorry." He lowered the spoon in resignation, about to chuck the food away, but then he had one final idea.

"How's about this?" He raised the spoon up a third time, but instead of going straight to her mouth he zigzagged it around in the air in front of her. Her eyes followed the spoon but they quickly flicked back onto Shepard as he made swishing noises before darting the spoon at her mouth. "Here comes the Normandy!"

He did get a smile but she still wouldn't open up for him. He sighed and placed the spoon on her little table pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand. He closed his eyes for a second, but reopened them when he heard a thumping from Elizabeth's table.

"What?" His mouth hung open as he saw Elizabeth gripping an empty spoon with a wide smile. She had missed narrowly, with a bit of food spread around her lips, but she had successfully fed herself. His mouth was still agape when he heard chuckling behind him.

"That was just hilarious," Miranda approached the two at the dining room table, giving Elizabeth a wide smile and seating herself down the other side of the high chair. "That was being officially outsmarted by a half year old baby!"

"Yeah," Shepard rolled his eyes. "That's makes me the third most intelligent person in the house."

"Erm, fourth actually," Miranda grinned at him as she carefully cleared the mess around Elizabeth's lips with a cloth. "Legion studies quantum physics when you're not looking."

"I knew he has a bit of a shifty look about him sometimes." Shepard dead panned in response.

"Someone is a very clever girl though."

"Rather too clever if you ask me!" Shepard cocked his head at his daughter. "I really wasn't expecting that."

"She has been watching us eat, she's only copying what we do," Miranda stood back up, giving Elizabeth a kiss on the cheek. "Maybe she needs to start eating at meal times with us more regularly, obviously she may want snacks in between. Also, I think we should start giving her a drink with food as well, water obviously."

"Sure, I guess that's a good idea."

"And it has to be in a normal cup, not one of those ones with a no spill lid," Miranda shook her head. "They have those silly nozzles that aren't brilliant for teeth development, plus she needs to learn to drink properly."

"Yeah, you asked me to buy some normal plastic cups the other day."

"And we should drink the same stuff from the same cups in front of her, so that she can copy us. That's how she'll learn the best."

"Yes Miranda," Shepard stood up, placing his hands on her waist. "Chill out, seriously. There's no need to worry so much."

"I know that, I just want to get things right – for her to have the perfect environment, opportunities, and lifestyle to grow up in," Miranda sighed. "I just want to be a good mother, you know?"

Shepard rolled his eyes. "Listen, you are a fantastic mother – the best. You're so good with Lizzie, it's obvious to anyone that she adores you. And you adore her."

"Yes, but that isn't enough you know."

"I know what this is about," Shepard pressed a quick kiss to Miranda's lips, pulling back with a smile. "Just because of how your father was, as an attempt of a parent, doesn't have any effect on you as a parent. You are fantastic, the only good thing he ever did was to give you to the galaxy."

"Why are you always so fantastic? And thank you for saying these things about me," Miranda placed her arms around his neck. "Though there is one other thing."

"Which is?"

"Well maybe it's time that Lizzie moves into her own room, she's more than old enough," Shepard was about to open his mouth to object but Miranda beat him to it. "I know you love having her in the bedroom, but she really needs to be able to sleep alone."

"Really? Do we have to do that so soon?"

"Yes," Miranda gave him a grin. "There are perks to it, you know?"

"Oh?"

"Absolute privacy..."

"Hmm, that's an intriguing thought," Shepard grinned in return. "Just you and..."

He was interrupted by a scream from Elizabeth, both of the pair turning to face her. She was smiling happily at them, clearly pleased to have gotten their attention.

"Excuse me!" Miranda spoke to the baby in a scandalised tone, raising an eyebrow. "You should let your parents give each other some attention now and then."

Elizabeth let out a little giggle like sound in reply before turning back to the spoon on her little table, picking it up and whacking it onto the surface several times. Shepard made to go towards her and stop her before she hit herself but stopped as the doorbell rang out, causing Legion to bolt up to the door whilst barking noisily.

"I'll get it."

Shepard walked out of the room quickly but obviously not quick enough, the visitor impatiently pressing the buzzer a second time and holding it down.

"All right, all right," Shepard shouted out as he opened up the door, though he was surprised at who was the other side. "Bau?"

"Shepard we need to move, and quickly," The Salarian spoke very quickly, equalling the speed that Mordin used to reach when in full flow. "We've got them, but we have to move fast!"

Shepard was taken aback. "Cerberus? Where are they?"

"On Earth, a base in one of your deserts – the Sahara."

"John?" He turned to see Miranda carrying Elizabeth to him at the front door.

"Miri I..."

"Go," He noticed Miranda swallow nervously, though in testament to her strength she didn't betray any fear on her face. "But you better take care of him Bau, I mean it."

"You have my word Miss Lawson," Bau nodded solemnly. "Alliance teams are already moving to secure it, hopefully there will not be any fighting. Shepard – your armour is in the shuttle."

"Right, I'll join you in a second," As the Salarian hurried off Shepard turned to Miranda. "I'll be fine, I promise you."

"Good," Miranda leaned forwards to give him a kiss, their lips maintaining contact for a while. "Love you."

"Love you too," Shepard gave Elizabeth a kiss on the forehead. "Love you as well."

XXXXXXXX

The shuttle was was relatively short, only forty minutes to get to the base. Shepard changed into his armour in the back as they travelled, selecting a variety of weapons from the large crate Bau had brought along. He decided on a greater armament than before, just in case, selecting a Harrier battle rifle, Mantis sniper rifle, Escrivator shotgun, and a Carnifex pistol. He also took a belt of inferno grenades, just in case.

The shuttle touched down into a scene of chaos. The rocky plain they had landed on was swarming with Alliance soldiers and various armoured vehicles, and gunships patrolled in steady circles above them. Shepard noticed what looked like a commanding officer directing the operations and jumped out of the shuttle to head towards him, striding through the throng of troops. They all seemed to notice who was passing between them however, every single person dropped what they were doing and snapped to a salute as Shepard passed by them. His instant reaction was to return the salute but he swallowed the urge, after all he wasn't in the military any more. Instead he nodded respectfully as he continued his walk.

"Councillor Shepard, we just received word you would be coming here," The officer snapped to a salute. "I am Commander Johnson, 23rd infantry regiment."

"Right, you in command here?"

"Yes Sir," The soldier dropped his salute. "And it's an honour to meet you sir."

Shepard nodded quickly in way of reply, now wasn't the time for flattery. "Sitrep?"

"This base was picked up on scanners, we were scrambled with air support unit," The commander began to walk and Shepard followed. "As we arrived the enemy boarded their own shuttles, two of them got away."

They rounded a large cluster of boulders and another large expanse of land was revealed to them. Shepard's eyes were drawn to a twisted and smoking wreck about fifty metres from them, surrounded by a group of soldiers.

"Looks like you got the third one then."

As they approached the wreckage the soldiers in front snapped to salutes, the commander putting them at ease almost straight away. One stepped forward to speak.

"We have one survivor sir, but he won't last long."

"Great," Shepard grinned. "Lets have a look."

They were lead around to the other side of the wreck where an assault trooper had been freed from the shuttles remains. His armour was dented and battered, blood seeping from a large wound in his side. The trooper was alive, but only just as his wheezing breath revealed. Shepard knelt down by the Cerberus agent, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him up.

He leaned forwards, glowering directly at the eye slits on the troopers helmet. "Right, start talking quickly and I'll ease your pain."

"Hah!" The trooper snarled back at him, spluttering and coughing violently before speaking in a gruff tone distorted by his voice modulator. "What is there to tell?"

Shepard shook the trooper roughly. "That's what I'm asking jackass."

"You'll get what's coming to you Shepard," He coughed again. "What you deserve."

The troopers body fell limp in Shepard's hands as he died of his injuries. Shepard dropped the body with a disgusted sneer and stood back up, turning to face the commander.

"Those other two shuttles, where were they headed?"

"North east bearing, we have fighters sweeping in various quadrants but we may not find them for some time if they have gone to ground."

"Also," One of the team members stepped forwards. "This shuttle has stealth capabilities, we may only be able to detect them visually."

"Right," Shepard thought for a second. "Get on to the Admiralty Board, I'm recommending that the Sol relay is sealed and that the fifth and third fleets relinquish their fighter craft for search duties – I doubt they'll argue if Cerberus is loose in the system. Bau, get on to C-sec and warn them – they might want to seal their docks."

Both the Salarian and the human nodded their assent, both opening up their omni-tools to begin to relay his orders. Shepard was about to move when his own omni-tool bleeped.

"This is..."

"Shepard!"

"Valern?" Shepard noted the panic in the Salarian Councillor's voice. "Are you OK?"

"Are you at the base on Earth?"

"Yes, we're there.."

The Salarian interrupted him again. "It's a trap!"

Shepard's eyes shot up, and one hand grabbed his pistol from it's holster. The other soldiers around him noticed his movements, they followed his lead and drew their weapons whilst looking for threats around them. The commander made a signal with his hands for them to move back to the landing site, and the soldiers quickly formed a ring around Shepard as they began to head back.

"What do you know Valern?"

"Shepard, I'm...I'm sorry."

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "For what?"

"They took my family, they forced me to comply or else they would kill them," Realisation dawned on Shepard. "I had no way of warning you without them finding out."

"But you can now?"

"The STG has rescued my family from another facility."

As they reached the landing site the commander called out to his troops. "Form up! Get an escort for the Councillor, now!"

Shepard turned back to the holographic projection of Valern on his wrist. "Are they going to strike here?"

"No Shepard, they wanted to make you pay the highest price," Valern put his head in his hands. "You aren't the target."

Shepard stopped in his tracks, horror forming on his face. "No..."

"They're headed to your house, to eliminate Miss Lawson and your child."