Chapter 14: Hope

Toronto, Canada (Earth)

The team was back in his room, dispirited by Shepherd's trial. Shepherd was on the bed waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the first time Shepherd did not know what to do. He looked to Tali to his left who had her head on his shoulder, he knew she was trying keep a strong face, but it was tearing her up inside. She went through see him die two years ago and almost dying months before on the mission, and now she would see the Alliance; the organization he risked his life for kill him. It would be too much for her to bear; he almost wished she was back with the fleet. Shepherd looked to the others; they looked just as defeated as he was, except Jack who was angrily pacing around the room. She then spoke up, unable to keep her silence.

"This bullshit, after everything you did for those shit-heads" Before she could keep ranting, Kelly held on to her hand.

"Jack…" The ex-convict looked at everyone, the atmosphere was just so depressing and Jack's ranting didn't help things.

Jack scoffed. "I need a drink…" She muttered as she walked away, Kelly faced the other with an apologetic look on her face.

"Forgive her, she means well…" Kelly said.

"We know…" Tali said softly. Kelly went out of the room to catch up with her girlfriend; Anderson came up and placed a hand on the spectre's shoulder. This was especially hard on the old Admiral; ever since his wife and sons left him he's seen Shepherd as a third son. In his eyes, Shepherd was still a hero; a man willing to risk his life to save everyone…it was only a shame the galaxy couldn't see it, a soldier's work is truly a thankless job .

Anderson sighed. "You put up a good fight, son"

"A lot of good that do" Shepherd said.

"What happens now? The council should have heard about the verdict by now" Kaiden said. The new spectre was worried, with the reapers coming he was going to have to step up and lead everyone in the coming war. He had no idea how he was going to do it, for the first time he felt overwhelmed, he was a good soldier, but he was no Shepherd.

"Honestly, I don't know, my guess is they are conflicted"

Tali frowned. "Funny, they didn't seem that way when they buried everything"

Shepherd scoffed. "I would think they would have jumped at the chance to be rid of me"

"Despite how much you gave them headaches you gave them, they still owe you for saving their lives" Anderson said.

"Funny how they show that by letting Shepherd burn" Garrus said. Garrus' omni-tool beeped. As he opened his tool and read it, his eyes went wide and walked out of the room.

"Garrus are you okay? You seem pale" Kasumi asked.

He looked back. "Y-yeah, just need some air" Garrus said leaving the room.

"Anderson, can't you talk to Udina about letting Wayne keep his status" Tali said concerned. "Otherwise, he's looking at death" Anderson sighed, if only it was that easy, Udina was as petty as he was power-hungry. The Councilor was infamous among his peers for the cynical, spiteful political games he played to screw with the politicians that somehow wronged him. It was that pettiness that led to the slow response to Mindoir, because of the grudge he had with the colony's representative.

"I can try, but that bastard knows how to hold a grudge" Anderson said. "I wouldn't be surprised if he motions to revoke his spectre status out of spite" James came running in along with Lia and Natalia. They looked excited for some reason; Natalia especially had a big smile.

"Guys!"

"What is it, Vega?" Kaiden asked.

"Turn on the TV; you've got to see this!" James said. Kaiden turned on the TV, Shepherd and team eyes went wide. There was a huge crowd of people outside of the building, holding up signs with Shepherd's picture saying 'Shepherd was wronged, down with the Alliance' the screen then shifted to different parts of Earth, from Cairo to Tokyo all with people holding up signs in different languages all for Shepherd's release. The screens got smaller and showed a woman with light brown hair in a tight white dress sitting at a desk.

"This is Diana Allers for Alliance News Network with breaking news" she said. "Controversy! Soon after Commander Wayne Shepherd was found guilty for the deaths of 300,000 batarians in the Bahak system, protests have broken out on Earth, Feros, the Citadel, Eden Prime, Horizon, and Mindoir, the colony of Commander Shepherd's birth" The screen changed to show the Citadel, and several of the planets mention with people marching down yelling. On the Citadel, C-sec was watching the crowds making sure it stayed peaceful.

"Many protestors are chanting in the streets to free Commander Shepherd, as a rumor is going around, that Bahak was an Alliance cover-up and that Shepherd was wrongly accused"

"Many Alliance diplomats and admirals are speaking out on the hearing, saying it was nothing more than a witch hunt"

"This outrage does not stop to just the human population, as many aliens are also protesting the decision also" They showed an image of an asari in the protest crowd.

"Two years ago, my bondmate was on the Destiny Ascension when Saren attacked the Citadel, without the Commander, my bondmate would have died along with the council"

"Because of the severity of the backlash, all talks of revoking Commander Shepherd's spectre status have stopped cold, with Ambassador Dominic Osoba looking in to investigating the Bahak incident, said investigation will take several months to a year" she said. "This is Diana Allers with ANN" Shepherd just sat there slack-jawed, he knew he was popular, but he never in his wildest dream did he think he had the influence to cause protests on his behalf. Tali pounced on him, hugging tightly.

"Keelah, this is a dream come true"

"I know….but what about the batarians? They'll be pissed" Kaiden said.

"I don't think they'll try something, not with Shepherd having so much support" Natalia said.

"What are you going to do?"

"Try and get your sentence overturned, with the admirals and humanities diplomats on your side, they won't be as hostile to me as they were before" She said walking away.

Anderson shook his head and smirked. "I don't know how, but luck just seem to follow you around" he said. Then he got serious. "Now that this mess is out-of-the-way we can focus on the real problem"

"The reapers…"

"Yeah, I'll see if I can get some of the other admirals to help out, surely there's got to be more personnel that believes the reaper threat other than me and Hackett" he said walking away. Garrus came back in.

"Garrus, where was you? You missed the good news, Shepherd may be cleared" Tali said. "Garrus?"

"Huh? Oh nice, I'm happy for you, Boss"

"You okay, Garrus? You seem distracted" Kaiden said.

"Sorry, I have a lot on my mind…" Garrus said.

"What's going on? You know you can tell us anything" Shepherd said.

Garrus sighed. "It's about my mother…"

Hallway

As Anderson was walking, he decided to make a call to an old friend. "David! It's good see you"

Anderson smiled. "You too, Kahlee, how's been the teaching world been treating you?"

Kaylee chuckled. "I love these kids to death, but they can drive me crazy at times" she said. She then grew serious. "I'm sorry about Shepherd…."

"Don't be, Shepherd is fine"

"Something happened?"

"Let's just say, there is one thing politicians fear more than each other, their constituents"

She chuckled. "I see, so what do you want? It's not like you to call without a reason"

"You remember what happened a month and a half ago, right?"

Kahlee shuddered. "I try to forget what happened to Grayson, why?"

"I had gotten information, that Cerberus may be targeting you kids" Anderson said. The information in question was from the Shadow Broker, about a week ago the broker contacted him with info saying Grissom Academy could be a possible Cerberus target. The admiral was at first reluctant to take the information, but remembering what Gillian went through, he swallowed his pride and took it.

"What, why?"

"I don't know, but all I know is that anytime Cerberus is on the move, it's never good" he said. "You may have to prepare your kids"

"What do you suggest?"

"Well you said that you needed more biotic teachers"

Kaylee raised a brow. "Who do you have in mind?"

Shepherd's room

Back in Shepherd's room, Garrus told the others about the call he had gotten from Palaven. His mother was dying, for as long as he's been alive his mom had been sick, it was a rare genetic condition similar to sickle-cell in humans. With the right treatment, his mom could live with her condition with no complications, however the treatment was expensive and the insurance company covering the payment went under because of an investigation probe on Noveria. With no payment for treatments, the company that made the drug stopped supplying and that's when his mom's condition got worse. She was at the Zohan Memorial Hospital which had the best care on Palaven due to his father's connections but his mother's condition was too far advanced. "Keelah, how long does she have?" Tali asked.

Garrus sighed. "A couple of months, the doctors said their doing everything they can to make her comfortable" he said. "My father and sister will be there"

"I take it you're not looking forward to it" Shepherd said. That was an understatement, his father was Kazen Valkarian a legend among c-sec and a very by the book kind of man. He would often lecture his sister and him on the importance of the rule of law, his favorite thing to say was 'Do things right or don't do them at all' he was very disappointed when he went with Shepherd the first time and when he quit C-sec Kazen practicly disowned him.

"My dad and I have never seen eye to eye, especially during my days in C-sec" Garrus said. "I don't want to argue with him, especially with my mother on her deathbed"

"Who knows maybe it will be different this time" Kaiden said.

"Heh, you don't know my father, but for my mom and Solana, I'll bite my tongue if he does the same" Garrus said. "I just sorry I won't be here boss"

"Don't worry about it; your family is more important, I'm just going to miss you" Shepherd said holding out his hand.

Garrus took his hand. "Thanks boss, I promise you when it's time, I'll be ready" Shepherd nodded.

"Take care of yourself, Garrus" Tali said as she gave him a hug.

"Gave your family our regards" Kaiden said shaking Garrus' hand.

"I will"

Normandy

"Jack, please calm down…" Kelly said. Jack was pacing around in her room; she wasn't even supposed to be on the ship and when the guards tried to stop her Jack was very close to going on a shockwave rampage until Kelly stopped her. She was still pissed at the ruling, very pissed and Kelly tried her best to calm her down, but once the woman got going, it was impossible to stop her.

"Ungrateful fuckers, that's what they are, Shepherd risks his ass to save them, he fucking joins Cerberus to save them, and this is how they repay him" Jack said fuming.

"Shepherd still has his spectre status…"

"Until the fuckers at the citadel decide to take that away, then he's dead" She said. "Fuck this…" She walks to the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" Kelly asked.

"Breaking him out…" Jack said walking away. Kelly then move in front of her, she had to stop her, when Jack is angry doesn't think about the consequences of her actions. And with Shepherd in trouble they needed to be on their best behavior. "Move Red"

"Oh no, you are not doing this…"

"Watch me" Jack said brushing against her. Kelly grabbed her hand.

"Damn it, will you wait and think?" she asked. "If you do this, then Shepherd will be hunted down by both the Alliance and the batarians."

"Yeah, but…"

"How will he stop the reapers, if he's running from the very people he's trying to save?" Kelly asked. "Besides, you know he wouldn't agree to this, he's too much of a boy scout, remember?"

Jack sighed. "Shit, I know…but he deserves better than this" she said. "Shepherd was the first one to reach out to me, he never used me for anything, shit he's probably the first friend I ever made in my god awful life" Kelly kissed her lips.

"I know, baby…we all feel the same…" She said softly. Then an image appeared from Jack's omni-tool on her cot.

"Finally, I reached you" The woman then saw Jack and Kelly together. "Oh sorry for disturbing you"

Jack frowned. "Who the fuck is you?"

"Oh, David said you had a colorful language" She then saw Jack starting to glow blue. "My name is Kahlee Sanders; I'm the headmistress for Grissom Academy"

"Grissom who?" Kelly spoke up.

"Grissom Academy, it an Alliance-founded school that teach gifted children, including biotics" she said.

Kaylee smirked, impressed with her knowledge. "Correct"

"O…kay, that still doesn't explain what you want" Jack said with crossed arms.

"I want to hire you as a teacher for the biotic students" Jack blinked, she wasn't what you call a people person, and she especially had kids from her experiences at Pragia. For someone to want her to teach a bunch of kids, they must be high, but from the look of the woman's official attire she wasn't kidding.

"What?"

"I want to…"

"I know want you said! Is this some kind of joke? 'Cause I ain't laughing" Jack said.

"No joke, we want you because of your skills with biotics"

"You do know that I'm an ex-con, right?"

Kaylee raised a brow. "Strange, your record didn't say that" Jack blinked and looked at her record. It was spotless, there were no charges on vandalism, piracy, kidnapping, murder, not even destroying the hanar's favorite moon was on there.

"What? I got a record a mile long! How the…" She then saw Shepherd's name, somehow he got the Alliance and the council to drop all past charges. The whole galaxy was after him with fire and pitchforks, so when did he have the time to do this? Then she smiled softly, no one has ever gone this far for her, he was truly looking out for her. "Fucking boy scout…"

"So how about it? Of course joining Grissom would mean technically joining the Alliance" Jack thought about it for a while and Kelly gave her a playful nudge with a smile. A second chance, she never thought she would have that, it was so strange….

"Okay, I'll do it, but know this I won't go easy on the little brats" Kaylee gave her a look. "Don't worry, I won't kill them…"

"Good, well there will be shuttle waiting for you, to the school" she said. "We'll hold it if you want to say goodbye"

"No thanks, I was never much for goodbyes"

Kaylee nodded. "I'll see you there" The image was gone.

"Well we should get going, shouldn't we?" Kelly asked. Jack looked at her with a raised brow.

"Who said you were coming with me?"

Kelly crossed her arms. "Like you would last three minutes there alone" she said. "Besides, those kids are going to need a therapist after you're done"

"I'm not that bad with kids" she said slightly offended. Kelly gave her a look. Jack scoffed. "Fuck fine…" She smiled and kissed her lips.

"Good"

Moments later the two were in the cockpit, looking back at their home. It was a weird thing to have a home, she had spent most of her life on the move, to her back then there wasn't place she belonged. And the most ironic thing was it was a Cerberus ship she considered home, or maybe because of the people here it didn't feel like a Cerberus ship. She smiled a little thinking about her time on the ship, so this what it meant to have good memories, it was strange feeling, but it also felt good at the same time. Kelly grasped her hand.

"Jack are you…?"

"Yeah, the longer I stay, the harder it will be to leave…" Kelly just nodded and the couple left their home, and their family.

Space terminal

Jack and Kelly were not the only ones, reluctant about leaving, Garrus was also. "Last call for Palaven, last call for Palaven" the PA said.

Garrus took one last look at the building, before boarding the shuttle. "Don't worry boss, I'll be ready…"

Garrus and Jack gone! The team splitting up!

It's not too late weigh in, if you have a request for chapter, tell me and I'll put it in. Next time! As always Review and Comment.