14th August 2190 – Crucible pulse + 3 years and 10 months

"John, you're wrong," His mother shook her head at him as she stepped over a tree root. "Semi-automatic over full auto every time for assault rifles."

"No way, full auto is better. Lets face it, the chances that you'll be dropping an enemy with only one shot using an assault rifle with the kind of armour people use these days is rather slim," Shepard paused as he himself clambered over the root, helping Elizabeth over it afterwards. "With a full auto you have the option to let off a few seconds of fire, aiming at someone's head it's all you need to deal with them."

"Yeah, but the recoil makes that more difficult to do," Hannah shook her head. "Especially with heavier guns like the Revenant."

"Aye, be careful Lizzie," Shepard set Elizabeth down, allowing her to follow Legion off through the woods around the lake. He turned back towards his mother. "But I'm talking about more refined weapons such as the Harrier."

"Maybe," Hannah turned towards Miranda who was following behind them. "What do you reckon Miranda?"

"Well I'm an SMG girl really, but I prefer a decent semi-automatic when it comes to rifles. I like being able to take accurate shots," Miranda grinned. "John likes to stick his finger on the trigger and spray everywhere."

"Not true," He challenged with a hurt expression. "I'm a better shot than Garrus, you know how fantastic I am with a rifle."

"Yeah, when you're about half a foot away." Miranda stuck her tongue out at him.

"Fine, you criticise my amazing N7 skills just because you can't use an assault rifle yourself," Shepard gave her another hurtful look. "I'll take them elsewhere."

"Then take them off after Lizzie!" His mother pointed in front of him as she exclaimed, prompting Shepard to turn.

Elizabeth had disappeared off around a clump of trees in front of them with the dog, and Shepard narrowed his eyes. It wasn't often that Elizabeth ran off or did anything to worry them, but he wasn't best keen on her being out of sight. He walked quickly to catch up with her. Then he heard a scream.

"Lizzie!"

Shepard and Miranda shouted in unison before taking off after their daughter, both of them having the exact same reaction, the exact same concern for her safety. If Shepard hadn't of been so preoccupied with finding Elizabeth he would've noticed Miranda sliding a miniaturised pistol out of her right boot.

Shepard went to the right of another pair of trees before entering a clearing like area. To his immense relief Elizabeth was stood in the middle with Legion stood obediently by her side. There were tears running down her face however. As they approached Miranda performed a quick scan with her omni-tool to confirm that they were alone, placing her pistol back away once she was satisfied they were safe.

"Lizzie?" Shepard dropped to his knees in front of his daughter, placing his hands on her shoulders carefully. "What's up? Are you OK?"

She sniffed before pointing in front of her to a shape slumped next to the base of another large conifer, Shepard squinted though he couldn't exactly work out what it was. Miranda crouched down to place an arm around Elizabeth as Shepard stood back, walking over towards the tree and what had upset Lizzie. He realised what it was soon enough.

"Uch, it's an animal," He turned back to face them. "It's been gored rather nastily."

"Oh," Miranda wiped a tear away from Elizabeth's face. "Come on now Lizzie, there's nothing to be frightened of."

"It was horrible," Elizabeth sniffed again. "I got a shock."

"I bet you did," Miranda stood back up, taking one of Elizabeth's hands in her own. "Shall we take you home?"

"That might be a good idea Miri," Shepard nodded as the pair turned to walk away, Legion following behind. By now Hannah had caught up with them and walked over towards him.

"John? What is it?" His mother asked him as she approached from behind.

"It's a badger," Shepard turned back around and leaned down, taking a closer look at the animal. His eyes widened as he recognised the distinctive facial markings on it. "No, it's the badger!"

His mother sighed. "Oh that's nasty."

The animal was spread eagled on the floor, blood streaming from a wound in it's left flank. A small piece of horn was broken off and was clearly what had caused the injury, though he had no idea as to what animal it would've belonged to. He carefully placed a hand around the badger's chest, feeling for any pulse.

"It's still alive." Shepard looked back up at his mother.

"Should we put it out of it's misery?"

"I..." Shepard looked back down at it. The thing looked so small and helpless. And Shepard had never killed an injured human, even someone who he was fighting against. "No."

"What, let it die slowly and painfully instead then?"

"No, come on."

He leant down and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket, slowly placing it around the exposed section of horn. His mother immediately realised what he was going to do and placed her own hands around the cloth, applying pressure to the wound in an attempt to stem the blood flow. Then Shepard picked up the badger, taking care not to aggravate the wound, and began to hurry back the way they'd come through the forest with his mother.

"So you're gonna try and save it?"

"I'm not, I know nothing about medicine beyond field dressings," Shepard paused as he stepped back over the fallen tree. "But Miri can save it."

"Will her surgery be sett?" He shot his mother a look, now wasn't the time for puns. "Sorry."

They hurried over to the house, heading in through the back doors by the patio. Hannah opened the door to let him in, though Shepard stopped as he noticed EDI and Jeff at the dining table with Miranda and a much calmer Elizabeth. Jeff raised an eyebrow at the scene, though Shepard tried to shield the view from Elizabeth so as to not scare her again.

"Shepard?" EDI spoke in a curious tone. "Why have you got an injured badger in your arms?"

"Because Miranda's going to save it," Shepard began to walk into the hallway to take it down to Miranda's lab, Miranda moving to follow. "Actually EDI, you can help too. Get on the extranet for badger anatomy."

XXXXXXXX

Shepard headed from the kitchen and into the living room to join Jeff and his mother with three bottles of beer, sitting down on the sofa as the two finished off their conversation. He handed the beers out, receiving thanks from both, before turning to Jeff.

"So, been busy Jeff?" Shepard took a sip. "Haven't seen you guys for a while."

"Yeah, been dead crazy the last couple of months," Jeff gave Shepard a disapproving look. "What with all the policing of the Batarian move, I swear I've done nothing but fly between Khar'Shan and the Asari Republics for what feels like years."

"All right, all right," Shepard grinned as he held up his hands in mock apology. "I'm sorry for preventing yet another war and the destruction of another species."

"Cocky," His mother reprimanded him with a grin. "Though true."

"Hmm," Jeff swigged back a long gulp of beer. "And then there's all the court proceedings."

Shepard blinked in surprise. "Court proceedings?"

"Yeah, do you remember a couple of years back when EDI said about perhaps adopting a kid?" Shepard nodded. "Well there was two problems. Firstly, as we're still serving on the Normandy, it'll be really awkward to work it around our missions."

"Understandable," Hannah nodded empathetically. "When my husband and I had John it was tricky, but we were at least based on stations or capital ships for the majority of the time. I guess having you both on a ship like the Normandy would be impossible, Alliance regs would forbid it on a small ship for a start."

"Exactly," Jeff nodded. "But the bigger issue was so simple we overlooked it. We went to the offices on Earth for adoption for a general meeting, but the first thing they asked was for all our records, both personal and professional. And EDI..."

"...Isn't registered as a living being." Shepard finished off the sentence with an understanding nod.

"Right. So before we can even begin to think about applying for adoption we have to get EDI registered as a living being, and that's proving bloody difficult," Jeff shook his head with disgust. "I didn't think it would be so hard for someone who fought so hard with us against the Reapers to get treated equally."

Shepard narrowed his eyes. "So the courts are being funny about it?"

"They're not flat out refusing anything no, but they're being ridiculously slow," Jeff shook his head once more. "It's one meeting to confirm one tiny fact, and then it's four months till the next time we can see them again."

"Hmm," Shepard furrowed his brows. "What stage are you at?"

"Well...they have," Jeff made comma signs with his hands. "...'officially accepted our request for official citizenship for EDI as a fully aware being.' It's bullshit code for we're gonna do nothing for several weeks."

"Can I help?"

"I don't think so," Jeff shook his head. "It all goes through the courts apparently, and I don't think even Councillors are allowed to interfere. I suppose it'd be different if it was for an entire race like the Geth, it was the Council that gave them all equal rights."

"Yeah," Shepard nodded, remembering the proceedings. "Though their programming had to be scrutinised to see if it was acting in each Geth as a true independent, free willed being."

"Well that has to be done with EDI, as well as making sure her Cerberus ties are completely severed apparently."

"Well if I can be of help let me know," Shepard nodded sincerely. "It's the least EDI deserves."

At that moment EDI and Miranda entered, Miranda seating herself down next to Shepard and allowing him to place an arm around her shoulders. EDI sat down next to Jeff on the other sofa opposite his mother.

"How's the badger?" His mother asked curiously.

"Well he's not too bad, despite the fact neither of us were experts in badger anatomy," Miranda shrugged. "Removed the foreign object, sealed the wound, left him to sleep and recuperate."

"Shepard, I believe the badger will make a full recovery."

"Erm, I guess that's fantastic." Shepard scratched his head, inwardly chuckling at the weirdness of the situation.

"Did you put Lizzie to bed?"

"Yep," Jeff answered Miranda before Shepard could. "She even got some Uncle Joker time."

"Fantastic." Miranda dead panned in response.

"I got badgered for a story," At the lack of laughs Jeff held his hands up. "Badgered? The badger? I got badgered for...never mind."

"I hope you told her an appropriate story Mr Moreau."

"Actually I did, it was about how I saved the bunny Citadel from being overrun from the evil forces of The Illusive Fox," At Miranda's disapproving look he back-pedalled rather quickly. "Of course it was more along the lines of the adventures of Peter Rabbit with some added action. Sort of."

Shepard cut in to save Jeff at that point, though he was struggling to laugh himself. "So, what are you guys doing here? Other than saving badgers that is."

"Well, we are here because of a message sent to me by Miss Lawson several months ago," EDI folded her arms and shuffled backwards on the sofa. Shepard gave Miranda a questioning look, though she merely inclined her head towards EDI. "Regarding a vid production of your experiences."

"A vid production..." Shepard trailed off. "I'm sorry but it's really not something I want doing EDI. It just wouldn't be."

"I think you should wait and see what she's done Shepard," Jeff interjected surprisingly seriously. "I thought the same as you until she showed me the work she had done."

His mother leaned forwards on her chair. "What work do you mean?"

"Shepard, you remember I was tasked to monitor both the SR-2 and yourself by Cerberus?" He nodded. "Well I did that through many means."

"Such as bugs throughout the entire of the Normandy?"

"That was one method, yes. Though that only worked on the Normandy," Shepard nodded once more. "Outside of the Normandy I was connected to the sensor suites on the weapons and armour of the entire squad as well as hacking into a local security cams."

"And that does...?"

"It allowed me to monitor the exact states, movements, and actions that you and your squad mates enacted as well as your immediate surroundings and any other beings within several hundred metres of you," EDI opened her omni-tool and pointed it at the big vid-screen on the wall. "And using that data I am able to reconstruct an exact replica of every moment of the Collector mission, the Reaper war, and all the other bits in between."

Shepard's eyes widened as he watched a film begin to play. It was showing one of the early missions of the Collector mission, the very first in fact. It was a perfect reconstruction of Shepard, Miranda, and Zaeed fighting through the plague district on Omega, and not a detail was missed. He watched with a third person view behind himself as he drilled several rounds through the torso of a Blue Suns Legionnaire, noting Miranda warping another merc to the right of the screen. The render of the entire area was perfect, as if it was a professionally made, and all of the sounds were accurate too – right down to Zaeed's colourful commentary.

"That's..." Miranda paused, allowing them all to hear Zaeed call a Blue Suns trooper a 'piss brained shrimp' before shooting him through the head. "Well I wasn't expecting it to be quite that perfect."

"Essentially it is a complete and fully accurate reconstruction of everything the team ever did, both on missions and the Normandy" EDI flicked a switch, transferring the view to centre over Miranda and follow her in third person instead of Shepard. "And you can centre it on any of the squad members fighting at any time."

"So you can do this for every mission? For all of the time aboard the Normandy? The entire story?" Hannah asked her question still with an amazed expression on her face.

"Yes."

"Well not quite," Shepard shook his head. "Not for the Lazarus station or Freedom's Progress, or Omega and the finding Leviathan during the war."

"That is not accurate Shepard. For a start there is plenty of security footage from the Lazarus Station that was recovered by Cerberus, I have pieced enough together to follow the entire of your progress. And I was actively monitoring you and Operatives Taylor and Lawson as a trial during Freedom's Progress," EDI paused. "And Omega was monitored through your armour."

"What?" Shepard raised his eyebrows. "I was all the way over in the Terminus, you guys were on the Citadel."

"Dr T'Soni requested that I monitor you throughout Omega, she was concerned for your well being," EDI brought up images from that mission, Shepard fighting alongside Aria T'Loak and Nyreen Kandros. "We bounced the signal through several systems so as to not compromise security. And so that you would not know."

"Wow," Shepard scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. The topic of Liara's infatuation with him was something no one really mentioned, despite the fact everyone knew. The only people he had ever mentioned it too were Garrus and of course Miranda. He didn't particularly want to be explaining anything to his mother right at that moment. "Erm...and Leviathan?"

EDI shared a look with Miranda, one that Shepard didn't miss.

"Guys?"

EDI said nothing, instead she pressed another button to flick to footage of Shepard underwater in the diving mech from the Leviathan mission. What surprised him most was the view however, it was in first person, through his own eyes. He looked away from the screen to Miranda whom he still had his arms around, giving her a questioning look. He could feel her body tense.

"John, I was going to tell you. Honestly," She flicked her hair back, keeping her voice steady. "It was just never relevant, it was never the right time."

His mother shook her head in disbelief. "He has cameras in his eyes?"

"No, he had cameras in his eyes," Miranda corrected her before turning to face John, placing a calming hand on his thigh. "I asked Dr Michel to remove the micro implants when you were in a coma after the war."

"Right."

"Please don't be annoyed that I didn't tell you." Miranda looked a little nervous as she watched him. No one else said a word.

"Annoyed?" Shepard cocked his head. "I'm not, though it would have been nice to know."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I am a reasonable person you know," He placed his hand on her own that was atop of his thigh. "I can understand wanting to keep tabs on me at the time, I was a hell of an investment for Cerberus. I suppose a first person view could've been useful."

"Yes, it was utilised heavily for monitoring by Cerberus, and I used it to monitor you during the war as well," EDI paused. "Though don't worry, I severed the link with Cerberus as soon as we cut ties after the Collector base."

"So that means you've seen literally everything I saw, first person view?"

"Yes Shepard," EDI allowed a massive grin to spread across her synthetic face. "I saw everything that was done, even in private."

Miranda shifted awkwardly in the seat, and Shepard swallowed rather noticeably. Having their more intimate moments on camera wasn't exactly ideal for public viewing.

"Miranda, how come you didn't deactivate them when we..." He paused, remembering that the other three were there. "You know?"

"I didn't have the control switch over them, no one did," Miranda sighed. "Would you mind keeping those private EDI."

"Of course, I will ask the billions of Porntube users to pause their sharing of the videos," At Shepard's look EDI used her usual catchphrase. "That was a joke."

"Right," Shepard glanced awkwardly around at his mother, who was trying to stifle a laugh, and then at Jeff who was also grinning. "Erm...Lets move on from that."

"Of course."

"You have literally everything, absolutely everything?"

"Yes," EDI nodded. "I will be able to compile a complete account of events from the attack on Lazarus station right until Harbinger attacked during the last run to the Beam."

"How come you don't have anything beyond that?"

"The feed cut when you were hit by Harbinger's fire." EDI showed them the clip, all from his own point of view. He watched as he sprinted away from the injured forms of Garrus and Ashley through the fire, before stopping to stare up at Harbinger. The Reaper screamed before firing, and the screen went to static. He felt Miranda stiffen next to him, and there was silence for a few seconds.

"Wow," Jeff whistled. "I can't believe you took that shot and lived."

"Tell me about it," Shepard nodded. "Though I only took a glancing hit, the main beam missed by about a metre."

"Crazy," Jeff shook his head in disbelief. "But it's a shame that we don't have anything from the original Normandy, from chasing Saren. I mean we have some raw sensor data, but that's about it."

"I could sort something out," EDI interjected. "I have detailed mission reports of all of Shepard's missions, perhaps I can find footage from various places you visited such as the facilities on Noveria or the Citadel and piece it together."

"That won't quite have the same effect," His mother placed her fingers on her chin, stroking thoughtfully. "Perhaps you should leave that to the book you mentioned?"

"Maybe, I don't..." Shepard paused. "Wait a second, I haven't agreed to any of this yet. I need to think about it, if this is actually a sensible idea. I don't really know that yet, I don't want to be a celebrity or something like that."

"John, that's not the idea of something like this," His mother gestured in the air, as if searching for the right words. "Think of it as an education for the future."

"Yeah, yeah," Shepard rolled his eyes as he looked at Miranda. "Where have I heard that before?"

XXXXXXXX

"We'll see you soon," Shepard waved to Jeff and EDI as they got into their skycar before turning to his mother. "And see you soon mom."

"Aye," Hannah hugged Miranda first, before turning to Shepard and hugging him too. "Be good John."

"Yes, yes," Shepard rolled his eyes before allowing his mother out of the door and into the darkness. "Bye."

As he closed the door Miranda practically melted into his arms, humming contentedly as she rested her head onto his chest.

"John?" He could feel her larynx vibrating against his chest.

"Yes?"

"I'm really sorry," She looked up at him, Shepard could tell she was almost blinking back tears. "I should have told you about the implants, I shouldn't have kept that from you."

"Hey, it's fine," Shepard carefully stroked one hand down her cheek, cupping her chin. "Water under the bridge as they say, it really isn't important."

"It is though," Miranda sighed before leaning back into his chest. "We should be able to share anything and everything."

"And we do, but if it never comes up in conversation then of course something like that won't just be randomly mentioned," Shepard grinned. "Plus it's pretty cool that I had cameras in my eyes."

Miranda looked up at him with an exasperated expression. "Like a kid, I swear it."

He laughed as he spun her around, steering her back into the living room. They both stopped at the entrance to the room, looking at each other with questioning looks.

"What are we gonna do with him?" Shepard jerked his thumb at the creature in question, Miranda following his look. The badger had already begun it's process of recovery, now it was curled up in front of the fireplace. Legion was watching it with jealous eyes, it was taking his usual spot.

"Well it can go back to it's home of course."

"Yeah but..." Shepard spread his hands out wide. "What it it gets hurt again?"

"Are you feeling sorry for the same animal that has caused absolute hell several times for us?" Miranda raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Not sorry, just..." Shepard looked back at it. "It's rather cute isn't it?"

Miranda raised an eyebrow.

"It is!"

She raised the other eyebrow.

"It's really sweet!"

Miranda shook her head disapprovingly before leaning back into Shepard.

"You are the only person in the galaxy I can think of that would try to adopt a badger."

"Well I was going to adopt a Yahg, maybe a badger is more sensible."

A/N Shepard can forgive even the greatest of his enemies...Sort of