Chapter 16

Promises Made, Promises Kept

"Terra Firma is now under a large investigation by C-Sec and the Alliance thanks to the recent arrest of Terra Firma leader Charles Saracino and one of his criminal accomplices Elias Kelham. Both men—and many others from the recently believed political organization turned criminal—are facing charges of several counts of murder, attempted assassination of a political figure, and the attempted murder of the war heroes from the Normandy team and the N7 Talons."

"These are the only known charges at this time, but as the investigations continue it may be possible we will be seeing the inclusion of ties to the terrorist group Cerberus. In popular news, N7 Talons leader codenamed 'Ghost' has received commendations for his heroic actions to save Ambassador Osoba, which nearly cost him his own life. Doctors have said he is recovering well and rumors are Ambassador Osoba may petition to the Council to give him Spectre status—"

A groan echoed in the hospital room as the vid screen was shut off making Shepard chuckle humorously. She turned her head to see the purple eyed leader lying on his bed picking up one of the data-pads off the cabinet top where Darian had left them so he could get some work done while he was forced to stay in the hospital.

Al-Jilani was running her own report on the events that had happened two days ago now that Diana had released hers and brought all the facts none of the other reporters knew about to light. Everything had gone perfectly to plan in that aspect, her report had broken all of Terra Firma's foundation and now they were steadily collapsing as each day went by.

Humans and aliens alike were calling for them to be brought down thanks to their ties to Cerberus, blowing up the refugee camp and their attempts at taking the Ambassadors and the two squads of war heroes lives. Their political or public support had been flushed down the proverbial toilet, and that was extremely gratifying. Now they were under the watchful eyes of the Alliance, who had no tolerance for people with Cerberus ties right now, and C-Sec, who really didn't have any tolerance for people with Cerberus ties.

To say the coup attempt during the war really made Citadel Security and the stations occupants hateful of the group was an understatement. They weren't all going around throwing hate at humans in general, mostly because humans were a part of the people who hated Cerberus, but if by some stroke of luck Kelham and Saracino managed to get away with minimal sentencing's then Shepard was sure there would be riots.

It wouldn't happen of course. No matter how great of a lawyer they had, all of the factual evidence her team and Ghost's had collected and put out for everyone to see was damning to anyone connected to it. They were looking at life in prison, dying in prison by someone who hated Cerberus and Terra Firma, or being put to death before that. If it was life in prison they were going to likely be put into solitary or into the high security wing to ensure they didn't organize anything from the inside or make escape attempts.

Knowing that for the time being there wouldn't be any radicals trying to blow up more refugee camps or take the lives of her friends allowed the commander to once more relax as she had before. All that was left to do was wait for both Kasumi to wake up and for Ghost to get checked out of Huerta for things to finally be back to normal.

Kasumi had woken up briefly the day before, but since she tried to get out of bed Chakwas had to put her back to sleep with a sedative. Her lovable thief was a stubborn woman who did not want to lie around in the hospital even though she was clearly still in need of help, yet a little voice told Shepard that the thief had gotten that stubborn because of her.

It was a thought that made her smile because she knew she was one of the reasons, if not the reason her lover wanted to get out of the bed so badly. To be honest, the redhead wanted to break her out of the hospital and get her back to the apartment herself so she could show how much she missed her and loved her, not to mention scolding her for nearly scaring the life out of her.

If Shepard was never going to live down the fish tank incident, then Kasumi was never going to live down scaring her so badly by nearly getting killed.

For now she chose to not end up getting sedated by the mother figure of the Normandy by trying to steal away a patient in need. Though there was no brain damage done, she had some physical wounds still and Chakwas wanted her fully healed before releasing her. It's not so bad, at least when she's released we won't be forced to wait a week before engaging in anything, Shepard mused.

The N7 was looking forward to holding Kasumi in her arms again. She truly missed being able to feel her bare skin under her hands and having her in a close proximity to her. To be able to taste her lips and body again, to stare into her magnificent eyes and see the burning fires of life in them once more, to sate the desires that lay in her heart with the woman who her heart belonged to.

Pleasurable shivers made their way down Shepard's spine at the mere thoughts of being able to do all those things again. She loved Kasumi so much and she could have lost her thanks to Kelham and Saracino. All these recent events had done was remind the redhead of the fragility of life, ensuring that she would make the best of every day with the thief regardless of what the rest of her day was like.

Although she had been doing that originally, Shepard planned to do more than she had been and to make sure the dreams they shared were lived together. There was no doubt in the commander's mind that Kasumi would be of the same mind when they spoke next, but that would have to wait until after she woke up.

To pass the time until they could be together again, she resumed contact with Hackett and had been checking in on Ghost during his recovery. Hackett had given her fair warning that she was going to have to come back soon because of her intervention in the Saracino mess. It had brought her name right back into the public eye and now people were questioning when she would be back more often and the Council was in the same boat.

As Bailey had told her around the time when she had woken back up, the Council didn't know what the hell they were doing right now because they hadn't been the ones to form the alliances between all the races. Shepard had been the one to do it, and now the Council had to deal with the leaders of each race who had stepped up to help, mainly Primarch Victus and Wrex.

Thankfully there had been no fallouts between the Krogan's and the other races or any breakage of the alliances made during the war. The Salarian Union knew without Shepard, her team and Thane their Councilor would be dead so they appeared to no longer care about the Genophage cure. Primarch Victus had survived the siege on Earth and he was an ally who gave all his support for the Alliance and Krogan's by working alongside both Hackett and Wrex.

The three Councilors now were essentially assistants to the military leaders and were in the process of trying to learn everything it took to bring everyone together and what this new galactic stage looked like. Much to Shepard's surprise, they were asking for her aid and finally willing to listen to her words. That's all the commander had ever wanted, she wanted them to listen, to hear her words without batting them away and claiming her to be delusional all so they could be prepared for the Reapers.

She had seen in the Citadel Archives with her Spectre access that there was belief in Reapers but instead of doing anything about it they locked it away and chose a blissful ignorance instead of preparation. In any event, there was little use in getting angry about it now. Right now they were finally willing to listen and this time it wasn't just her voice they would be hearing, it would be the voices of everyone who had fought and bled in the war.

Their highest ranking military leaders, Matriarchs and now the Krogan's, Batarian's, Geth and Quarian's—as well as all the other races who fought—were all cooperating with one another and proving to the Council why the bonds forged in war were the strongest. The Council had never believed such a thing possible, leaving them utterly clueless on how to proceed without getting in the way. Because of how much they were achieving, they had let the warriors continue their cooperation and work without much interruption.

All the previous bad blood was mostly dead and gone. As long as they didn't try to come in and start putting things back to how they had been then that bad blood would fade away forever. Right now the chief priority was getting the Relays working again, and by the sounds of it the races were nearing a breakthrough thanks to some of the data found in the Mars Archives.

They needed to get the Relays and communications on the galactic level fixed to find out how everyone else was holding up right now and get the other races back to their homeworlds for repairs. Granted everyone was going to have to pitch in to help each homeworlds restoration regardless of race because of how much damage was caused, but Shepard held faith that everyone would.

Reapers had a way with mass destruction and Earth was a good enough example as to what Palaven, Thessia and every other world hit by them needed in terms of help. The only worry Shepard had were a few people—Admiral Xen and the Salarian Dalatrass being chief among them.

Xen was crazy.

She would no doubt be working on some way to try to get the Geth back under her control despite them finally having their own consciousness which made them people not machines. Well, in Shepard's eyes they had always been people. Even before Legion had sacrificed himself she had seen him as a person. He had fought by her side and never once tried to kill her or her friends, unlike Admiral Han'Gerral.

At least Raan, Koris and Tali are Admirals, Shepard conceded. They would keep those two in line and if the commander had any say, Xen would be kept under watch constantly to make sure she didn't perform her experiments on the Geth or try creating a new A.I. to enslave.

Then there was the Salarian Dalatrass and anyone who agreed with her idea of keeping the Krogan's sterile.

A lot of people now agreed with giving the Krogan's a chance because of their help in the war and how they continued to help even after it, not once complaining about Turian's or Salarian's who they fought and bled beside.

The Dalatrass, on the other hand, was not someone the redhead would ever have an ounce of trust in. She had seen enough stupid ideas that the Salarian's were working on when she was on Sur'Kesh, and then trying to get her to agree with that backroom deal to betray the Krogan really made Shepard want to slap the Dalatrass.

As far as she was concerned, they needed a new Dalatrass, one who didn't have such a disdain for the Krogan. That wasn't in her hands, though, so she had to hope at the least the Salarian's who didn't hold her belief would become more prominent in the race.

With Bakara and Wrex leading the Krogan the N7 knew they would be led down a gentler path and her trust would not be misplaced. Bakara and Mordin had been as close as a Krogan and Salarian could be after years and years of hate. Her remorse over his lost told the commander that she would keep Wrex and the other Krogan males in line as soon as they were able to get contact back to Tuchanka.

They would honor their promise to not cause another Krogan rebellion.

Still, Shepard was going to have to get involved with peace talks and such once they had the Relays up and running. Nothing else really mattered if they couldn't get out of the Sol System. There wasn't much she could do in that aspect so the only thing for her to do was to give interviews and help the refugees like her friends had been doing. Once the Relays were back online and the Normandy completely fixed then she was going to volunteer to escort ships as they went around fixing Relays.

It would be a boring job, but at least it would be easy and get her back on the Normandy with her squad, or at least anyone who wanted to come along.

Fortunately there was still time before both going into the public eye once again and having to worry about dealing with political problems. In the meantime the redhead would enjoy herself as much as she could.

At the moment that meant checking in on Ghost to make sure he was okay, give him a hard time about being popular in the media and then going to see if Kasumi would wake up this time around when she was waiting. "So aside from being the center of rumors and popular media, how are you holding up?" Shepard asked, her tone teasing at first then genuine after.

"I'm doing pretty good for having my heart jump started by a mixture of biotic's and electricity. Grissom says even though I was saved I have to be watched to make sure nothing bad happens," Ghost responded then shrugged slightly. "Said something about how the danger of drowning and such isn't over after being resuscitated. I'm stuck here for a few more days until they are sure I'm good to go."

"How are your guys holding up?" she asked.

Hearing the suffocating sadness in Tara's sobs and the raged sorrow in Darian's voice as he tried to revive their leader had been hard to listen to as it was another reminder of why she had to fight to keep her friends and herself from dying anytime soon.

Over the years she had lost four friends thanks to the Reapers, losing more was not in the game plan and dying wasn't a part of her plan either. The N7 planned to do her very best not to put her lover or her friends through a similar circumstance nor would she allow them to put her in one.

Ghost chuckled at her question. "Well Gallick, Carson, Kar, Brad and now Darian are having a laugh at my expense. I can handle reporters well enough, but once I get out of here they know I'll be hounded and can't stop making jokes or laughing about it," he said.

Shepard breathed out a short laugh at the news. It definitely sounded like something the five would be doing and something her friends had done as well. "Val and Whitney are perturbed at me for almost dying. I've received a daily scolding from both of them so I don't want to hear about how close of call I had. I know, trust me," the purple eyed N7 joked.

"What about Grissom?" Shepard quizzed.

The Drell medic was a stoic man who could be very serious when it came to his patients but gentle all the same. He also didn't lack humor, though that seemed to be how Ghost's entire squad was. He wasn't loud like Brad or Kar, but he hit you with quick witted one liners leaving his target speechless and everyone else laughing.

"He shook his head at me and told me he expected this to happen sooner or later. Can you believe that? It's like he doesn't think I can take care of myself," Ghost said in mock seriousness.

"If recent events are anything to go by, you know hitting a guard at the casino hard enough to cause way too much blood making you have to rush and then nearly getting yourself killed by jumping into the Presidium Lake to dodge a bomb going off then I'd say he's right. You really can't take care of yourself," the redhead jabbed.

"Traitor. I was hoping for support, but nooo. Shepard has to be a smartass," the purple eyed N7 retorted in a childish manor.

Shepard gave a laugh enjoying the small banter with her fellow N7 and war survivor. He was a good guy and never lacked jokes despite everything he had gone through. Then again she was smiling and laughing alongside him even though she had recently been completely stressed the hell out thanks to the war.

I guess we both are getting the best kind of revenge on the Reapers and Cerberus, Shepard thought. We're both soaking up all the good we can with our friends and loved ones, taking in as much as we can and more to get rid of all the pain we had felt.

Although Ghost liked to tease and joke around a lot even in serious situations, he had good qualities of being a leader. He could inspire his team, he knew when to be serious and when humor was needed to lighten the mood and he created a bond with each of the men under his command.

If the rumors about him being opted in as the next human Spectre were true, the redhead would definitely give him support if he wanted it. The same went for Garrus if he wanted to become one as well, although it seemed more likely he and Tali were going to be focusing more on helping people rebuild their homeworlds than anything else.

"What about Tara?" she asked, noticing a lack of mention to her name.

The purple eyed warrior let out a deep sigh. "She's…she's been at my side every day so far. Only reason she isn't here now is because I had Grissom slip her medication to make her fall asleep. Wouldn't leave my side despite nearly passing out every second 'cause she wouldn't go to sleep. Haven't seen her so shaken up in a long time."

"It's understandable."

He nodded in agreement to the commander's words. "Yeah…" He rubbed the back of his head, his hood covering where he rubbed. "Mortality has a funny way of really showing you what's important and what you've failed to do before the lights go out. I guess I'm lucky my lights were jump started back on."

"…Yeah."

Shepard knew the truth of those words. That final decision to destroy the Reapers had really been eye opening to how important her friends and Kasumi were to her and how she had failed to tell Kasumi the truth. How she had failed to save the lives of other important people in her life and how she was going to damn others to death because of her decision all because of a gut feeling that the A.I. thing had been looking for self-preservation.

Luck was the only reason she, the Geth and EDI were all still alive and that was something the N7 reminded herself of every day to ensure she never forgot the sacrifices made or the ones she had almost made that only didn't end so bad because of sheer luck.

Never again did she want to be involved in a decision involving the ruthless calculus of war where billions of lives were resting on the shoulders of her decision. It was a burden she was no longer willing to bear now that she was given a second chance at life, peace and happiness, especially now that she had Kasumi.

Her thief and the life she wanted to have with her didn't involve billions of lives resting on her shoulders and she doubted Kasumi would let her live a life like that. The lithe thief wouldn't stand for everyone throwing the weight back on the N7 and, if she had to, Shepard was certain Kasumi would kidnap her and find a hideaway somewhere where no one could find them.

If there were people who understood what those kinds of choices had done to the commander on emotional, physical and mental levels, it would be her squad, and they were tired of war and politics the same as Shepard.

Thane had once told her that there came a time when a warrior had to rest from war and conflict, it hadn't been her time but it had been his when they had spoken before the coup. Now Shepard believed her time as a warrior was coming to an end. Like Javik, she was interested to see what peace was like.

They were both warriors who had only ever known war and fighting. To finally have a chance at peace without having to die to achieve it was not unheard of for soldiers, but it was a rarity for most.

Definitely a rarity for soldiers like Javik and herself.

"So is the rumor about the Spectre candidacy true?" Shepard asked, trying to steer her thoughts and the conversation back on a brighter path.

He nodded. "Yeah. Well, sort of."

"Sort of?" she asked in return.

"I've already told him no." She raised her eyebrows at him. "Don't get me wrong, it would be a huge honor and I know I wouldn't have to leave my guys behind…but I've got other promises to take care of. If I said yes to him and I made it as one then I wouldn't be able to retire as early as I plan to and fulfill those promises," he explained.

It was a good reason in Shepard's opinion. He had other commitments to his friends that had existed long before becoming war heroes and she understood wanting to retire early to fulfill promises. "I understand."

"Plus I heard that you had to fill out reports directly to the Council and I don't see that working out. I'm pretty sure we'd clash constantly or I'd just shut the comm off on them," the purple eyed N7 said.

"Don't you already fill out reports to Hackett?" she asked in return.

"Well yeah, but Hackett understands who we are. He knows we can be serious when need be but if seriousness isn't needed then we give each other and anyone around us shit." Ghost shrugged. "The old man doesn't care as long as we don't do anything unethical and get the job done. Even if we crack jokes in front of a camera he doesn't care. I've seen a reporter ask him about us and his response was, and I quote, 'That's just Ghost and his crew.'"

"You're probably right. The Council and I didn't exactly get along when I had to file reports on the first Normandy."

I should have shut the comm off on them, that would have been a bit gratifying after everything they said then, the accusations when we fought the Collectors and then not lending a hand during the war until I saved their lives, minus Sparatus who gave me a place to start then.

Although he did help then, the negative attitude he showed on her first tour was the least bit helpful.

"So as I said, a huge honor to be considered as one but not an honor I'm taking this time. I plan on retiring early so I can give Tara a bunch of little blue children and be around long enough for them to remember me," Ghost said.

Shepard smiled fully at his statement. She wasn't sure when or if she and Kasumi would adopt or have kids by other means, but thinking about Ghost retiring to start a family made her think about it.

Thanks to her vivid imagination she could see the secluded beach house as the sun was setting. She and Kasumi were holding hands as they walked along bare footed and her lover without her hood on. They were smiling blissful smiles as their four kids ran around in front of them playing tag or some game of that sort.

In this imaginary thought Shepard saw two little Asari, both smiling and laughing with their bright eyes gleaming as they played with the other two human girls. One of the human girls had a striking resemblance to Kasumi facially with the same beautiful eyes but longer black hair all the way down to her waist. The other had long red hair to the middle of her back, freckles on her cheeks and sky blue eyes resembling Shepard herself.

All of them were smiling and laughing, not having to know the hardships of the war their parents endured alongside the rest of the galaxy. The little girl who resembled Kasumi tagged the thief who promptly tagged Shepard and ran to catch up with the kids and thus started a battle between her and the others as she tried to tag one of them.

She nearly got Kasumi who then ordered their little band of girls to tackle their mom to the ground, which they did, managing to get her down onto the ground as they all laughed. In retaliation she ordered her girly horde to get Mama who had crouched down next to her only seconds before. They did, tackling her down as well, bringing them all into fits of laughs and giggles.

Their girly horde ran off continuing where they had left off in the game minus their parents who sat up and began watching the sunset. Kasumi readjusted to sit between the redhead's legs, leaning back into her in complete relaxation with a blissful smile on her face. They kissed one another passionately then were soon joined by their daughters who sat in an array of positions next to them.

After the sun finally set they all got up and both Kasumi and Shepard picked up two of their daughters so they could head home. The thief put one of the Asari on her shoulders and held the one who bore resemblance to the thief herself in her arms as Shepard did the same only the one in her arms was the one who had resemblance to the N7 herself.

Shepard allowed a smile to take over her features as the thoughts left her; it was a great picture and dream to aim for when they settled down. She didn't want to start it soon because the commander wanted to be there to witness the growth of all the children they had whether it would just be two or if it would really be four.

I'll have to tell Kasumi about it and see what she thinks, Shepard thought. Her thief would appreciate the thought and possibly make a quip about the redhead reading her books.

"Thinking of settling down and starting a family as well I see," Ghost teased.

As she smirked, the redhead gave a small shrug. "You aren't the only one who wants to retire early."

"True enough. Still, you and I probably have a few more years of work thanks to the Reapers mucking everything up." He was right, there was no way Shepard could just sit and let everyone else work on repairs as she soaked up the sun. A selfish part of her wanted to steal away Kasumi and do so, but neither of them could do that.

Hearing Gallick back at the casino talk about his wife had stirred both women to do their best to help others find their loved ones or at the least find some peace. The planets and the people of the galaxy were both in equal need of help right now and the N7 planned to help until she could walk away knowing things wouldn't crumble.

That meant a lot of preparations would be needed to be made, but those would come as time passed.

"Any word on Cerberus or Terra Firma movements?" Shepard asked.

He nodded slightly as he looked back to the data-pad. "Yeah, those bastards are scurrying around trying to hide but Hackett has been sending other teams after them. I've got Carson working on tracking movements and passing any helpful information to Hackett."

"Sounds like you're going to be busy when you get out of here."

"I don't mind it; it'll keep me from being hounded by the reporters at least," the purple eyed N7 responded with his usual smirk.

With a laugh, Shepard stood up, deciding to go check on Kasumi and let Ghost continue going through his reports un-interrupted. "Good luck to you Ghost and take care of yourself."

Ghost smirked and nodded. "I will, though I'm sure we'll meet again eventually, hopefully this time without a political conspiracy involving radicals attacking refugee camps, our friends, and trying to assassinate an Ambassador."

"Agreed. Try not to get hurt, we both know you have trouble taking care of yourself," Shepard teased before walking out. The doors closing cut off Ghost's shout of defiance making the redhead smile as she headed to the room where Kasumi was being kept.

As she entered she found it empty minus the thief lying in the bed sleeping by the looks of it so Shepard grabbed a chair and set it down next to the bed. The broken rose now had a second red rose that the N7 had gotten and both were in a small vase together.

Shepard sat down in the chair letting out a soft sigh as she did allowing her body to relax once more. She intertwined her hand with her lover's and kissed the back of Kasumi's before setting them back down on the bed. So this is what it feels like to be on the opposite end, she thought.

All her life she usually was the one in the hospital bed waiting to wake up with others hovering over her when she did. Kasumi and her crew had been the last ones to have to wait on her as she came back from her near death experience courtesy of Harbinger nearly killing her and the explosions of the red tube.

Now she had to wait for her loving thief to come back around so she could see her smile, hear her laugh and stare into her stunning eyes again. It was torture having to wait, but she would do it regardless. Kasumi was worth waiting for and when the wait was finally over everything would fall back into place.

For a little while Shepard sat quietly, letting all of her thoughts go as she listened to the soft rhythmic breaths coming from her sleeping lover. She allowed the warmth of her hand and the feel of her palm on her own swarm her nerves to take over most of her body at the recollection of Kasumi's hands exploring her body.

The gentle touch she had, the way her fingers and hands explored her body, memorizing every inch of her yet finding excitement in going over each part no matter how well she knew them. Her soft warm lips pressing down her neck and across her collarbone as they made their way gently down her body.

Warmth began to rise in the redhead at the thoughts. Why can't she wake up already? I miss her damn it and imagining her touch is far less pleasing than actually feeling it. Although her vivid imagination and memories allowed her to essentially feel all those feelings again as if they were happening, Shepard really wanted to physically feel them.

I miss her touch, her smile, her expression filled eyes and beautiful face without the hood shadowing it. Shepard sighed lifting up the thief's limp hand intertwined with her own and placed it against her cheek. But above all else I miss hearing her voice and having her at my side every day.

Whether it was quips, serious talks, loving conversations, battle flirts or the sounds of pleasure escaping Kasumi, her voice was dearly missed by Shepard, her presence even more so. As the commander sat with the back of Kasumi's hand against her cheek she felt the need to curl up next to the thief and hold her until she woke.

That would definitely end in getting sedated by Chakwas or Miranda. Lacking the want to be sedated led the redhead to stay in place with the small contact she had right now. It would suffice until her lover awoke and then until they were able to share a bed again.

"I miss you so much, Kasumi. If this happened only to show me how life without you would be like then there is no way I'm letting you go," Shepard whispered, softly pressing another kiss to the back of her lover's hand.

"Ana?" a tired voice quietly called. Kasumi's limp hand suddenly began holding more tightly onto Shepard's. The commander met her lover's tired sedated gaze and nearly jumped out of her seat and onto the bed to hold her close.

Reluctantly, Shepard kept her cool, standing up slowly and moving closer to the thief. She planted a kiss on her lover's amazingly soft lips then backed away to look her in the eyes, "I'm here, Love," she replied.

Kasumi smiled a tired sedated smile. "I love you."

Her heart began to sing once more hearing her voice and the words come out of her lover. This was very reminiscent of when she had woken up the day after their night of love making and that familiarity warmed Shepard's heart. "Watashi wa anata no mono," the redhead said lovingly.

"I think I figured out why you travel in threes," the thief mused tiredly.

A laugh escaped Shepard as she wrapped Kasumi in a hug. Her lover was okay and things were going to get back to normal very soon.

Shepard felt genuine glee at that thought and couldn't wait to catch up on lost time shared with her love.