AN: Back again, bitches!

Maybe I should stop referring to people as 'bitches'...

Maybe I should just stop swearing. I blame the internet...

Also, guess who finished the Citadel DLC! All the feels, guys! Seriously.

Alright, I would like to say sorry for the lack of action lately, it's all been very mushy and not much has been happening, but Part Two is coming to an end so that is all about to change. ^^

So, thank you to all you guys for reading (I still don't quite believe that anyone does), especially those who take the time to follow/fav, with super, mega, awesome thanks to all of you who review, since improvement is impossible without feedback!

And, as always, triple super awesome thanks go to Spyke1985 for betaing! You rock!

Now, on with the story. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Twenty One – Live While We Still Can

"And in the sea there is a fish,
A fish that has a secret wish,
A wish to be a big cactus
With a pink flower on it.
And in the sea there is a fish,
A fish that has a secret wish,
A wish to be a big cactus
With a pink flower on it.

And the flower
Would be its offering
Of love to the desert.
And the desert,
So dry and lonely,
That the creatures all
Appreciate the effort," Sarah sang as she moved between the consoles in the lab.

Tia smiled at her friend, shaking her head a little. "Some things never change..."

"To things never changing!" Sarah shouted in reply enthusiastically, grinning widely, as she raised her mug.

Tia frowned a little. "You don't actually have alcohol in there, do you?" she joked.

Sarah rolled her eyes jokingly. "Unfortunately not. It's just coffee."

"Speaking of things never changing, I'm guessing that your caffeine addiction is as strong as ever? Seriously, Sarah, when was the last time you slept?" she asked teasingly.

Sarah just snorted. "Sleep? Ain't nobody got time for that."

Nataliya rolled her eyes at her from the other end of the lab. "I would argue with her but she's right. Now that we're this close, it's best to just push on."

Sarah nodded in agreement. "Exactly."

She was interrupted by Nataliya as she frowned at the data in front of her.

"This can't be right…"

Sarah frowned, looking over, before sighing. "No, it's right."

"And it doesn't affect your growth or anything?" Nataliya asked as her friend began to return her focus to her own work.

"I had to have hormone treatments for a while when I hit puberty, but I'm fine now. Seriously, Nat, we need to focus our effort on other areas," she said as she focused her gaze intently on the console in front of her, pointedly ignoring the odd look Nat was giving her.

Tia narrowed her eyes a little but Nataliya shook her head at her when she gave her a questioning look. She felt as if she was missing something but she got the very clear impression that she shouldn't ask.

"And you're sure these new extrapolations are accurate?" Nat asked, frowning a little at the other terminal.

Sarah sighed at that and Tia got the sense that it had been prompted by more than just her work being questioned. "Yep. Our work so far isn't going to cut it. And we only have seven months left," she said, her tone still flat as she kept her focus on her console, giving Tia the impression that she might break it if she tapped the buttons any harder.

Nat just shrugged, a new look of determination crossing her features. "Well, I did always work better under a time restraint," she reasoned.

Sarah gave her a brief but grateful smile as they both returned to their work, music still playing over the speakers. Tia found it fascinating to watch Sarah work; she definitely seemed more comfortable here than she ever had at C-Sec, although Tia wondered if that wasn't more to do with Tiberius's return. The change since arriving had been clear in Tiberius and, from the way Nat was acting, it was also clear in Sarah. They seemed happy and, so long as their work didn't keep them from each other, they never left each other's side.

"Time restraint?" Tia asked, deciding to voice the question that had been bothering her since Nataliya had said it. She got the distinct sense that Sarah had been hiding something from her the past month, as well as Philip. Philip never kept anything from her so she figured that he was in on Sarah's secret and she had asked him to keep it quiet. She knew that she shouldn't be snooping but… it would be just like Sarah to keep a secret that compromised her security and just like Philip to put his loyalty to his friend above his better judgement.

"The hybrids are destabilising quickly. If we want to help, we have to be quick," Sarah lied.

Tia narrowed her eyes a little. "If that's the case then can't we just wait them out?" she asked, knowing that the plan wasn't viable but wanting to get more information on what was actually going on.

To her slight disappointment, Nataliya was the one who answered her. "Well, no. They just replace the hybrids whenever they burn out and every generation lasts a little longer than the last," she explained, causing Sarah's subharmonics began to growl with irritation, although the other two women couldn't hear it.

"But they're people. They shouldn't just be replaced like that," She added bitterly.

Nataliya nodded. "You're right, of course. They shouldn't," she agreed before deciding to change the subject. "I'm still a little curious as to how you were actually conceived. Your genetic code shows that someone figured out the basis for our work…"

Tia grinned, turning to her friend. "Story time."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Fine… I'm waiting for the computer to run these comparisons anyway," she started before sitting on the edge of the bench. "Okay, so, my mum's always been one of those people who are just… maternal, you know? She was just this total mother-figure to most of her crew," she explained.

Nat and Tia both nodded in response, sharing a knowing look. Tia had never doubted that Sarah was very much a big sister. As much as she would never call upon her friend to help with a grown-up witness back at C-Sec, any below the age of thirteen meant calling her immediately. Nat had had a similar experience with the children of the patients on the Corpalis trials.

"Oh, I think we've got a fair idea of what you mean," Nataliya said.

Sarah narrowed her eyes a little at her friends, not really comprehending what they were trying to get at. "So, anyway, when my mum was chasing down the Collectors she met this guy; Mordin. He was a total mad scientist type and, unsurprisingly, they got on famously. They used to spend all their time modding the cybernetic implants Cerberus had given her to revive her. Most of the mods were things like giving her a synthesised second voice box and allowing her to digest dextro substances."

"Wait, how many cybernetics does she have?" Tia asked.

Sarah shrugged. "Like, a shit-ton."

Tia raised an eyebrow at that. "A shit-ton? Is that a scientific unit of measurement?"

Sarah nodded in reply, grinning. "Yeah. It's slightly less than a fuck-ton and a little more than a bitch-ton," she joked back before returning to her story. "So, anyway, this was about the same time that my parents got together. And, clearly, they couldn't have kids so, when my mum was locked up by the Alliance, he worked on the problem and, when she was released, he implemented the mods. She actually didn't know what the mod was until she ended up pregnant with me."

Tia frowned. "Wait, he didn't tell her?" she asked, incredulously, but the two scientists just shrugged.

"He couldn't promise her anything. You don't make promises you can't keep," Sarah explained but Tia still looked confused. "Look, nothing is certain. Hell, I'm not even certain that we exist on the same plane of consciousness. We can deal in probabilities but not certainties. Never certainties," she explained and Nataliya nodded.

"We're not saying that it wasn't unethical. Just that we understand. Only one being knows for certain how things will turn out and I haven't seen Him around here lately."

Tia nodded in understanding. "So he didn't want her to get her hopes up?"

"Yeah. Look, when we say things like 'the chances of stabilising the hybrids is good' we mean that there's a high probability-"

"But we can't be certain," Nat finished.

"'Always expect the worst.' Then there's a chance that you'll be pleasantly surprised but you'll never be caught off-guard," Sarah explained.

Tia narrowed her eyes a little. "Is that what Plan C was about?"

Sarah folded her arms at that, regarding her friend carefully. "Huh. I was wondering when you'd ask about that."

Tia shrugged. "I figured Tiberius may have talked you out of it."

Sarah shook her head. "I'm gonna tell you the same thing I told him; we'll deal with it when it's a problem," she said firmly.

Nataliya nodded, smiling a little as her hand began to rapidly move across her datapad. "As much as we don't like to make promises… We're well on the way to stabilising the hybrids. Plan C shouldn't be an issue."

"You said your dad is in jail,
for sleeping with students,
I noticed your mother is never in town.

You get all the attention that they never give,
by getting fucked, drunk and sleeping around,

You got your first tattoo when you turned thirteen,
A sticking poke from a car that you lost your virginity in,
Stealing beers from your brother, passed out,
And leaving town is all you ever talk about.

Oh come on, it's not so bad now, come on,
Oh come on, things aren't so bad now, come on…"

She smiled a little at the familiar lyrics playing over the speakers as she entered their quarters, but it quickly faded as she saw Philip staring intently at a datapad. "Hey," she greeted as her gaze swept the room, resting on the search algorithm running on his terminal.

"Hey." Philip didn't look up as he replied.

She frowned, wondering what had his attention so completely captured. "What are you working on?"

He sighed, finally looking up. "I think I've found something…"

"What? What is it?" She murmured as she sat down next to him.

"I, erm… We need to do more, Tia. To try and find Cerberus."

She frowned a little. "Philip, we're doing everything we can. You're doing everything you can," she told him but he shook his head in response.

"No. There's one last thing I could do. It probably won't amount to anything but… There is one last place we could go for leads."

Tia moved closer to him as she realised what he was saying – what he had been working on so intently over the past few months - hoping to comfort him with her presence.

"Philip, we talked about this just after the initial Cerberus attack. The chances of finding out anything are slim to none," she told him softly.

"But there's still a chance," he replied adamantly.

She nodded, reluctantly. She could clearly see how much his past hurt him, so she found it hard to justify him willingly exposing himself to that hurt. "Yeah. There's still a chance."

"Then I have to do it, Tia. I'll head off tomorrow."

She sighed a little. "Okay, then. Just… I know that it's not the best plan but I don't care, I'm coming with you."

He sighed a little, shaking his head. "Tia, I can't justify putting you in harm's way like this…"

"Just as I can't justify allowing you to go alone."

He grinned a little at her stubbornness, shaking his head. "You're going to come no matter what I say, aren't you?"

She grinned back a little, shrugging. "Sorry. It's what you get for deciding to marry a stubborn asari."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he said before kissing her softly, putting his datapad down. "You know, you've gotten awfully protective of me since you hit the matron stage," he told her as he pulled away.

She spluttered in response for a few seconds before responding. "I didn't think you'd noticed."

He just grinned at her. "I wonder when you'll stop underestimating me," he mused as she rolled her eyes a little, smiling back. "It wasn't that hard to figure out. You did hit three hundred and twenty eight on your last birthday."

She shrugged. "I guess," she replied before frowning a little. "So, what's going on with Sarah?"

"Nope. I'm not telling you anything."

She gave him a pleading look. "Come on, I'm worried about her."

He shook his head. "No. I promised Sarah I wouldn't tell," he told her firmly, causing her to sigh. "Look, if you want answers then I suggest you ask her."

"I would but… Well, I think she's busy right now."

Philip rolled his eyes as he caught her meaning. "Those two are just… I don't know. I guess they're just making the most of… well, I guess it's not really that surprising…"

Tia frowned, trying to figure out what he knew. "Philip, seriously, what's going on? I'm worried."

He sighed, shaking his head. "I'm worried, too," he admitted, before frowning a little. "You've been hanging around the labs, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Why?" she asked, wondering where he was going.

"How close are they? To stabilising the hybrids, I mean." The raw concern in his voice gave him away as Tia gaped at him.

"She's not stable?" She whispered.

He winced a little. "Tia, I promised I wouldn't say anything."

She nodded. "Has she told Tiberius?"

He nodded. "It took her a long time; she didn't want to worry him unnecessarily, but he figured it out anyway."

Tia sighed, frowning a little. "Typical Sarah, trying to deal with everything by herself."

Philip shrugged. "I think she's just trying to spare us any additional pain."

She shook her head. "You know, I think I almost preferred it when she was trying to be mean. Her damn selfless behaviour is gonna be the death of her…"

"That was Tia," Tiberius said as he sat back down next to Sarah.

She gave him a questioning look. "Why did she call you? We're stuck in the same building. Well, I guess you guys aren't stuck here but still, Philip's lazy attitude must be rubbing off on her."

He looked a little sheepish at that. "Actually, I think she was a little wary of catching us doing… something else."

She grinned at him. "Now there's an idea," She said before frowning a little. "Wait, we've not been that bad, have we?"

"I'm not complaining."

She shook her head at him. "So, what was she calling about?" She asked, occupying herself by absent-mindedly running her fingers over his bondmark, prompting his subharmonics to trill with contentment as hers trilled back, echoing his.

"She and Philip are leaving tomorrow."

Sarah pulled away a little as she frowned at him. "Leaving? Where are they going?"

"They're not leaving Earth. Philip just figured that the best way to get information on his father's activities would be to go and talk to his family."

She frowned, her subharmonics trilling with worry. "He talked about tracking down his sister, but it was a while back. I thought nothing had come of it. And, you said he's leaving with Tia? Shouldn't she be as far from that mess as she can get?"

"They can take care of themselves," Tiberius reminded her. "Plus, do you honestly think she'd let Philip deal with this alone?"

She sighed. "I know, I just… I hate to think that he's pushing himself to do this for me."

Tiberius shook his head. "Blue, he needs to do this. I think he's needed to do this for a long time now."

She nodded. "Who needs vids, eh?" She said dryly.

He nodded. "Yeah. Though I do worry about how Tia's gonna cope with that level of family drama," he admitted.

Sarah just shrugged. "I would have thought that she would be used to it. If being orphaned twice doesn't count as 'family drama', I don't know what does," she reasoned before frowning a little as Tiberius stared at her, his eyes wide and his subharmonics trilling with disbelief. "Ah. That's one of those things that I'm not meant to know, isn't it?" she asked, looking a little sheepish, as he nodded.

"I know that she never told anyone but Philip and I only know because I read her file," he told her.

She bit her lip as she shifted awkwardly. "I didn't even know that I knew until I said it," she told him, shrugging. "I just sometimes pick up on things people don't say. And other times I'm completely oblivious."

He sighed a little, his subharmonics trilling with amusement as he pulled her close to him, wishing, not for the first time since they had started living together, that he was wearing something other than his armour. "Tell me something I don't know."

She grinned at him, still looking a little sheepish. "Gotta love the gut instinct."

"You mean the telepathy?"

She looked away, shaking her head. "No, see, that still sounds weird… It makes me feel like I should be a bald guy in a wheelchair…"

"You lost me again…"

She sighed, shaking her head, before frowning a little. "I don't suppose you'll fill me in on the details now that I know?"

"Nope. You'll have to ask Tia for that."

She sighed. "But who knows how long she's going to be gone," she argued, but rolled her eyes at herself. "You know what? I don't want to find out from you anyway. I respect her privacy too much."

He let his subharmonics trill with question and a little disbelief. "You know this is Tia you're talking about, right? The queen on violating other people's privacy," he joked, but she just shrugged.

"I know but it still doesn't feel right," she admitted as Tiberius's omni-tool beeped at him.

He groaned as he saw the ID on the display. "Speaking of family drama…"

She let her sub-harmonics trill with question. "I thought you liked having your grandfather back in your life. Having a family connection again."

He nodded. "I do it's just… He knows something's up. He has to, I've suddenly gone dark. I told him that I was going to be out of contact for a while, but it's been months now…"

Sarah looked away, her subharmonics immediately beginning to trill with guilt.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to cause any problems with your family." She said and he sighed, shaking his head before touching his forehead gently to hers.

"I didn't mean it like that, Blue," he told her softly and she shrugged.

"I know. It's just… I guess I'm just sick of hiding. Old news, I know, but… I guess I'm just…"

"I know, ani," he told her. She was scared. He knew that much, although she would struggle to tell him aloud.

She smiled at him. "It's weird… I'm not even sure of which me is me anymore. I mean, I spent three years not using my real name. Even before that, I was Just Sarah, and before that I was Angel. I haven't been Sarah Shepard-Vakarian in almost ten years. So, which one is me?"

"Well, that's easy," he told her simply, lowering his forehead to hers so that he could once more admire the fact that her eyes had returned to their original ice-blue colour. "You're Blue."

She smiled at that. "Alright then, Red." She grinned, moving so that she was sitting in his lap. "I guess it's not too terrible," she teased as she moved her lips to his neck, lightly running her tongue along his bondmark, causing his subharmonics to take on a slightly more lustful tone as he moved his hands to her sides.

"Blue, if you keep doing that, I won't be able to keep talking."

She gave him an impish grin as she pulled away. "That's kind of the point, Red."

"What if I have something interesting to say?"

She shook her head, suppressing a smirk. "No, that's just too easy…"

He laughed softly, shaking his head. "Yeah, I guess I walked into that one..." he joked back before looking a little sheepish. "I, erm... I got you something."

She frowned a little. "You know, you're just making me feel bad now. I never get you anything."

He smiled at that, shaking his head. "Well, you're not allowed to leave the facility, so you're forgiven. Plus, I don't need anything but you. Which brings me back to this…" He moved over to the other side of the room, finding the hiding place that he had discovered behind the piles of papers that she never bothered to move, but refused to file away in case she ever needed to refer back. He would always question her preference for working on real paper instead of datapads, but he had to admit that Cerberus would struggle to decipher her handwriting if they ever got their hands on her work…

He moved back over to where she was sitting, her subharmonics trilling with question as he handed her a box that was identical to the one that Tia had passed onto her from him three years ago.

"I figured that I should be the one to give it to you this time."

Her hand immediately moved up to the necklace that she always wore around her neck, with the red half-heart from her broken charm bracelet, only to find that it wasn't there.

"Just open the box," he told her softly. as he stood up to stand next to her, trying to keep the nerves from his subharmonics. He still had very little idea about human mating rituals and, as much as Blue claimed that she didn't care; he wanted to get it right.

She seemed to delight in opening the box as slowly as she could, being extremely careful when untying the ribbon around it instead of just pulling it off or cutting it with her talon-like nails. It was worth it, however, when she opened the box and gasped softly.

"You fixed it," she said in an almost whisper as she pulled the charm bracelet from the box.

"I... I didn't get to give it to you properly the first time so..." He trailed off, shrugging, but her gaze was drawn to the new addition to the bracelet, between the two half hearts. "I know you said that you weren't bothered about human rituals but... I guess I figured that we should do something at least vaguely right..."

"Red?" she said, interrupting his rambling as she stepped closer to him, the charm bracelet still in her hand, her fingers absently stroking the newest addition; a small, diamond ring. He nodded mutely in response, not trusting himself to say anything that wasn't completely idiotic. "I…" she started, but trailed off, seemingly in a similar predicament.

"You know, my research seemed to suggest that there was a question that went along with the ring," he told her as he wrapped his arms around her sides, bringing her closer, drawing confidence from the way her subharmonics were trilling. There had once been a time that he was almost sure that that sound only existed in over dramatized romance vids because the real world was just too bleak to ever allow that kind of unconditional love to exist between two people without tearing them apart forever.

He had never been so glad to be wrong.

"But-"

He stopped her as he realised where she was going. "I know, Blue, but I figure, we have to live while we still can."

She nodded, although it was still a little distracted. "Red, you know that my answer to that question would only ever be yes but... I don't want you to feel obliged to do this for me."

He shook his head at that. She seemed to spend so much time making sure that he wasn't inconvenienced or put out in anyway by their relationship and she just didn't seem to get it. She was worth all of it to him. "Blue, I don't feel obliged to do anything. I want to be your bondmate and your husband."

She grinned at him. "Then yes, Red. I'll marry you," she told him, her subharmonics trilling in an effort to show him everything she was feeling, although she suspected that it wasn't enough. Nothing could ever be enough to articulate how much she loved him. "But no frilly dresses."

"Well, no. That would just be ridiculous."

AN: Next chapter should be up either later tonight or tomorrow.