"Remind me again why I let you do this?"
"Shepard …"
"All right, all right. I know."
Hands shoved into the large pockets of her hoodie, Shepard kept her eyes down, focusing on the rough street under her. Liara walked beside her quietly, talking to random people as they continued on. Apparently, it was a collective idea to bring her over for a night at Liara's house. Three weeks had passed since Shepard's last surgery, so she focused on learning to use her artificial left arm. No one mentioned the episode she had; it was just easier to pretend it hadn't happened.
Truthfully, she felt herself become closed off again. Garrus still visited her every day, like the attentive turian he was, but she was running out of things to say. He seemed content enough to sit in silence with her, occasionally helping with her physical therapy of her arm. Small smiles came to her as he tested the arm's sensitivity, kissing the top of her hand or running a talon lightly over the skin. Goosebumps erupted on her upper arm from the contact, though the "simulated flesh" of the arm had no reaction.
After continued lapses of quiet, Miranda finally suggested she get out of the hospital. Kirron was hardly willing to let it happen, especially so soon after her surgery, but his opinion was overruled by the argument of her friends. Liara brought a simple gray hoodie, courtesy of one of her housemates, for the commander to throw over herself as they walked through West End. It was the first time that she left the third floor of the Linds building since she was brought back to Earth.
Shepard's left arm twitched slightly, an unconscious side effect. Occasional twitching, tingling, and struggling to bend her fingers and wrist were proving to be the worst of her operation. Miranda explained that it was more than likely her body's natural reaction to the nerves reconnecting. As long as she focused on moving her arm properly, and letting herself reaction to touch, there was hope that the side effects would eventually go away.
Amazingly, they passed an open market along the street, where handfuls of all species were standing together, bargaining over different products, shouting and laughing. The … life that she felt made Shepard feel a bit more at ease. Re-experiencing Mordin's death was only the first of the nightmares she began to have, so it was easier not to sleep. Miranda didn't argue with her when she claimed that she slept through the night, but she had a feeling the woman knew she was lying. All of the dreams ended the same, though: the explosions, the pain, the voice telling her to choose … But, no matter how hard she tried to piece it together, she couldn't remember who the voice was. She wasn't sure she wanted to know at this point.
"They seem happy," Shepard commented quietly, turning her head to focus on different sides of the street.
"The market has been a great help," Liara explained. "Several people have brought all kinds of supplies to trade. It's only their third week, but everyone seems to be enjoying it."
"How about the power and housing things you were telling me about?"
"Oh, they are quite well. East End is completely powered now. The building teams already have some of the houses ready. Major Coats believes that now it's a process of deciding who should move into them. He's offered for you to have one, if you would like."
Shepard shook her head. "Let everyone who needs them get settled first. If I can find a bed, I'll be fine."
The asari laughed softly. "It's a wonder how alike you and Garrus are."
"Sounds like something he would say, doesn't it?"
"I'm sorry he was not the one to bring you out today." She paused for a moment, answering a greeting from one of the humans on the street. "We believed that with his frequent visits, people would get suspicious of who finally came out of the hospital with him."
"It makes sense. But I still don't really understand why you think I should be out today."
"Shepard," Liara said her name quietly, "you've been in that hospital for nearly six months since you've been conscious. We agreed it was time for you to leave, if only for a little while. Please, just enjoy the day."
Huffing a response, Shepard chanced a look up at the sky. It was remarkably sunny, making her left eye squint. Over the months, she began to realize that she was still sensitive to light in her damaged eye; being able to see through it again had yet to prove successful. The past weeks had a lot of testing and therapy, but she was particularly happy there were no more surgeries. Garrus promised he would meet them shortly after they made it to Liara's house; he and the recovery team he was part of were taking Makos outside of the city to check for supplies, survivors, and to clean up more of the areas. She was proud of her turian for throwing himself into helping so whole-heartedly. For the first time since she knew him, she actually saw him fall asleep before she did in room 45, his head occasionally resting on her stomach as he sat in a chair beside the bed. The exhaustion was the result of his hard work, and he continued it nearly every day.
A slight vibration on her right arm brought her back to focus. Her omni-tool flashed as she brought her arm out of the hoodie. Liara had done the same, typing into her own omni-tool.
"Tali sent another message," she said.
"Looks like I got the same," Shepard answered, scanning the message quickly. "More about the relays … I can't believe they actually got some of them operational."
"It is hard to believe, but with the geth, quarians, and asari together, they have done an impressive job combining efforts to find a way. Apparently, they are going to try a test launch within the next 14 days."
"So long as they're working, we should have … what did she say? Four systems connected?"
"Yes. Sol, Tikkun, Parnitha, and Trebia, if I recall correctly. Those four had asari and quarian ships that were operational near the relays. I am surprised that there are ships nearing the relay in the Aralakh system as well. Provided everything works accordingly, the human, quarian, asari, turian, and krogan homeworlds will be connected."
"How hard is it to not be up there, researching with them?"
Liara smiled. "It has been … challenging. I know I am doing well here, however. I'm hopeful I will see the schematics and operating reports in due time."
"The Shadow Broker already has some connections to the project?"
"Enough of them, yes."
Quiet overtook them again as they continued toward Liara's house. Away from the market, Shepard noticed several more people working on buildings around them. The sounds of hammering and cutting were regular place. She even noticed some of them using the blade features of their omni-tools to cut into wood and metal. Her chest tightened as she remembered the last time she used her omni-tool's blade. Running the blade through Kai Leng wasn't satisfactory in the slightest, though. Thane was still gone …
"Here we are," Liara said, catching the commander's arm before she walked past.
In front of her, Shepard looked up to see a two-story house. The fencing outside of the house had been damaged at some point, but she was surprised to see that vivid green leaves wound themselves around the low pillars and iron rods. Dark red brick with white-trimmed windows. For so many years, she was used to the darkness of space, and sterile metal of the ships she traveled in. Here, with the sun casting beautiful light, the red and white of the house opposing the green of the vines, which coiled around the black of the iron, she felt an overwhelming sense of welcome … or home.
"It's beautiful, Liara," Shepard whispered.
"Oh, thank you," her asari friend laughed. "I will admit my housemates did most of the work. Vierra has a great hand with plants. I'm afraid everything I touch is meant to be dead. Trebin, Richard, and Genald cleaned up and repaired much of the inside. You will meet them soon."
"Oh, great."
Liara shook her head, noting Shepard's change in tone. "You will enjoy yourself, Shepard, I promise. There is a group I would like you to see first, however."
"And who's that?"
As they approached the house, the door swung open to reveal Kaidan Alenko standing the doorway. Shepard let out a surprised laugh as he hugged her, lifting her feet from the ground for a moment.
"What are you guys doing here?" she asked once Kaidan finally released her.
"Shore leave," Kaidan shrugged. "You'd be surprised how many people we managed to fit into this place. Liara even managed to find a place that has a backyard, so you'll have to do your rounds."
"Rounds? It's not just you?"
"'Course not. There's been plenty of people complaining they haven't gotten the chance to see you yet. Liara said you were leaving the hospital for a couple of days, so we cleared up some leave time for the Normandy."
Shepard looked to Liara, who smiled shyly. "I apologize if it was too bold to get a group together … We felt you needed some time with your crew."
"I think that's a great idea," Shepard answered. "Thank you for doing this."
"Don't thank her quite yet," Kaidan joked. "You have a lot of walking and talking to do. We'll see what you have to say afterwards."
Kaidan stepped aside to allow the two of them through, where at least 12 people crowded into the living room. They shouted a happy greeting when Shepard came in. It wasn't until Karin Chakwas wrapped her arms around her that the commander noticed the tightness in her throat and the tears welling in her eyes.
A/N: Consider the next couple of chapters my own version of shore leave. Kind of like what we were able to experience with the Citadel DLC, the idea of stepping away from the seriousness for just a little bit has been floating in my head for a while. I figured it will be a nice relief to the crew, and the readers. Even if it's not 100% necessary for the upcoming story, I think it will be fun, at least. Thanks for reading!