AN: Hey, look, another chapter. I'm probably going to upload these on a weekly basis for the next month or so.

Thanks to everyone who reads, with special thanks to everyone who follows/favs and super special thanks to everyone who has reviewed. You guys rock!

Super special thanks to 2kinds from DA for betaing for me!

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Chapter Twenty Seven - Promises You Can't Keep

The Citadel - Kara's Bakery

2253 - 57 Years After the End of the Reaper War

"I'm worried about you," Hilary told her, interrupting her own story.

Riina sighed as she leaned back in her chair. She knew that it would be unlikely that Hilary would just let her have the info she needed without some kind of heart-to-heart, but she had hoped. "Don't be. I'm fine."

"You've been on your own for over a year now and you keep your time on densely populated worlds to a minimum."

"I don't like people. Plus, I'm not on my own. I've got Cassi."

"Yeah," the AI agreed.

Hilary rolled her eyes. "Cassi doesn't count."

"Hey!" Cassi objected. "That's AI-ist!"

"We all know that's not what I meant."

Riina shrugged. "It's been fifteen years. Cassi is very much her own person by this point."

"It doesn't change the fact that you avoid everyone else. Hell, I think we both know that the one person you're closest to, apart from your sister, is the one person you should be talking to right now."

Riina lowered her gaze, looking sheepish. "I… I didn't want to upset her. Either of them."

"But you're fine with upsetting me?"

"I just…" Riina trailed off, unsure of what to say.

Hilary gave her an apologetic smile. "I know. I didn't mean to imply that I was upset. I'm glad that you're here and, you know, interacting with people."

"Does it stop you from worrying about me?"

"No. But what else is family for?"

"Family, huh?"

"Look, you might think of yourself as the lost little girl, abandoned by her parents, but you do have a family. When Auntie Jane and Uncle Garrus decided to raise you and your sister, they made sure of that."

"I know. And I'm sure that they would tell you that I'm fine. I just… need this info."

"Okay then."

The Normandy

2220 - 24 Years After the End of the Reaper War

"This isn't working!" Sarah groaned with frustration as her ball of biotic energy exploded in front of her.

Tia sighed at the outburst, folding her arms. "You've barely been at it five minutes. I swear, you are the most impatient person I've ever met…"

"Yeah, well…" Sarah grumbled. "This is the eighth day of this… It's getting a little old."

"I'm trying to help but… Honestly? I'm not quite sure I know how. Your telepathy is so different to asari melding. We merge nervous systems, but you?"

"I can detect the electrical impulses in the brain from a distance and interpret them into 'thoughts'... I kind of wish that I interpreted them differently. Maybe a pretty pattern of lights or something…"

"Can you actually do that? Retrain your brain to interpret the signals differently?"

Sarah frowned at that. "Possibly… But it's probably just easier to learn how to control it. Really control it, though, not just keeping up mental barriers like I've been doing."

"Then we should try again."

Sarah sighed before nodding reluctantly. "Okay, okay… Concentrate, breathe, try to single out just one thought… Maybe this time it'll actually work…"

"We're now docking at the Citadel. Everyone gets shore leave for the next forty eight hours. Shepard out," they heard over the comm.

"Well, I guess this cuts our little session short," Sarah said as she got up.

"No need to sound so happy about it…"

"Hey, I have to go deal with the fucking council. 'Happy' has nothing to do with it."

"You ready to go?" Tiberius asked as he entered the room.

Sarah nodded. "Yep. See you later, Tia."

"See you."

"So," Tiberius started as they headed up to the CIC, "any more progress?"

"What do you think?" she asked tiredly.

"You'll get it eventually," he assured her.

"You're so cute when you're bullshitting," she told him with a smile, giving him a quick kiss just before the doors opened.

"Hey, Sarah. Tiberius," Shepard greeted as they entered the CIC. She lifted her hand up into a quick wave but didn't otherwise move from her work, keeping her back to them.

"Did you speak to the council?" Sarah asked.

"Yes. They agreed to speak with you as soon as we docked," her mother told her, finally turning from her work.

"Any advice on dealing with them?"

Her mother shrugged. "I have a list of things not to do, but I'm sure most of it is self-evident. You know, like don't call them 'selfish shit-bags' to their faces…"

"Did you actually do that one time?"

"I was having a bad day… Anyway, my point is, I will be of little help to you here, much to my annoyance."

"No worries. I think I've got this."

Her mother nodded. "Well, good luck."

"Do you really have this?" Tiberius asked once they were off the ship.

"I have no idea. I just didn't want her to feel bad about not being able to help."

Tiberius stopped her in her tracks, lowering his brow plates to hers, which were now fully on display. "If worst comes to worst, you can just call them 'selfish shit-bags' and walk out of there."

Sarah laughed a little at that. "I suppose I can, can't I?" she asked, before closing her eyes, pausing for a few moments. "Are people staring?" she eventually whispered.

"Some, but no one seems to be having any kind of negative reaction. I think they're just surprised to see you alive."

She nodded before opening her eyes once more, though she refused to take them off of Red. "I guess I knew that 'no more hiding' would mean stares. It just… puts me on edge."

"You know, 'no more hiding' means something else too…"

She gave him a questioning look before realising that he was toying with the charm bracelet on her wrist. With one particular charm… "Oh? You have something in mind?"

"Well, we never really figured out any details. You know, other than 'no frilly dresses'..."

"Am I going to sound incredibly lame if I say that I'd prefer it if we took a leaf out of Philip and Tia's book and just did it without telling anyone…"

"Nope. Definitely not lame."

She smirked a little as she realised that he wanted a big deal made of it even less than she did. "What would you have said if I had wanted the whole nine yards?" she asked jokingly.

He shrugged. "No idea," he admitted. "So, what's the minimum we need to do this?"

She frowned as she realised that she didn't know. Marriage had never been something even vaguely on her radar. "I think we have to sign something... And there's something about witnesses... Shit..."

"What?"

"Well, I'm not sure but I would imagine that one of the conditions is that both parties actually exist."

"We both- oh!"

"Yeah. This might have to wait until I sort things out with the council..."

"Hey," he said, stepping in front of her and trying to meet her gaze, which had dropped to the floor. "Blue, you're still my bondmate. No matter whether or not the council recognises you, you're still the woman who has my heart."

"Red... I think that's the sappiest thing I've ever heard you say."

"Yeah, it was pretty bad, wasn't it?"

"Yep. But, as much as I would like to pretend otherwise, it totally worked."

"That's because you secretly like 'sappy'."

She laughed a little at that, shaking her head. "Perhaps. Anyway, there's no point in thinking about this now. I've only got…" she paused, looking down at her omni-tool, "eight minutes to get to the Council. I wish you could be there with me."

"Me too," he agreed, "but we both know why the Council wants to see you alone."

"To leave me vulnerable. Don't worry, they'll need more than that to catch me out."

"I know, ani," he replied, pressing his browplates to hers briefly. "But still… Good luck."

Sarah made an effort to stop grinding her teeth as her head began to pound but, in her frustration, she found it difficult. So far, all the Council had done was berate her for not thinking her actions through. They played off their anger at her resurfacing as concern for her wellbeing.

"Are you truly sure you are ready for such a burden?" the asari councillor asked her. "We all understood when you decided to fake your death four years ago. Do you really want to undo that? I doubt it would work a second time."

"I'm sure," Sarah told them. "I can no longer hide in the shadows."

"I think the main issue here is ensuring that Dr Shepard-Vakarian remains safe," the human councillor interjected. "Perhaps staying on the Citadel, under our protection, would be best."

"Then how would I fight Cerberus?" Sarah asked.

"Perhaps leaving the fighting to the soldiers would be best," he responded.

Sarah's fury intensified momentarily at the insinuation before she took a deep breath in an effort to calm herself, though it didn't work as well as she might have hoped. "Councillors, while I am touched by your concern, I assure you, I am more than capable of taking care of myself."

"We are also concerned by your willingness to give away information that is clearly inflammatory," the turian councillor told her. "We can't even begin to predict the repercussions of you releasing the data on how to create more hybrids to the public."

"We've discussed this before, councillors. The data is already out there and it's too late to get it back now."

Sarah held back a frown, wondering just what the councillors were trying to accomplish here. She figured that they had to know why she was there so what was with all of the bullshit preamble? Were they trying to pretend that they were on her side before shooting her down? Or were they trying to scare her into giving them greater power in this situation?

Whatever the case was, it wouldn't work, she decided. Mostly because she had the advantage of knowing exactly what they were up to.

She focused herself on the asari councillor first, trying not to leave any evidence of what she was doing upon her features as she opened herself up to the councillor's thoughts.

It didn't take long for her to understand the asari's reason for being less than positive towards the idea of more hybrids. She was afraid of a power shift. She thought that the hybrids would unite the other species, giving them an advantage that had solely belonged to the asari for centuries.

Sarah had to stop herself from snarling at the self centred attitude the asari councillor was displaying, instead turning her attention to the salarian councillor.

His thoughts passed by so quickly that they only intensified Sarah's headache, seeming chaotic when compared to the asari's calmer nature. Though, his thoughts weren't as negative. He was curious about the hybrids, though his thoughts showed no inclination towards helping her. While he had no reason to work against her, he also had none to do anything else.

Sarah turned her attention to the next councillor, thankful for her advantage, but was almost knocked back by the overwhelming negativity she felt directed towards her by the human councillor.

He hated her. She was an anomaly - a threat - nothing more.

She had to wonder how the hell humanity was picking its representatives…

Though, she felt almost exactly the same thing from the turian councillor. Both of them hated her and what she represented. Though, it didn't take her long to find the source of their hate, quickly identifying their fear of the change she represented.

She wanted to hit them until they saw sense but kept herself reigned in.

Her spirits were lifted, however, when she turned her focus to the quarian councillor, feeling her hope that Sarah would help to see the other councillors to see reason. It gave her the motivation she needed to continue on with the political bullshit. If she was going to do this, she had to do it right. If not for her sake, then for people like Cee and Damien and the quarian councillor.

She turned her thoughts to the one councillor left - the krogan - only to find something more than a little surprising.

Nice try, little Blood Born.

Sarah tried her best to hide her surprise as the krogan councillor caught her trying to read her thoughts. Can you blame me for trying? she sent out, curious as to whether or not the councillor would hear.

No. But I am not your enemy here, of that you have my assurance.

But the others are.

I suspect they will agree to give you what you want. However, they will attempt to stall actually giving it to you.

Thanks for the heads up.

I have no desire to see you fail, little Blood Born. I believe your kind deserves a chance. Just as mine did.

The entire exchange lasted mere moments, but it was enough time for the human councillor to begin speaking again.

"Be that as it may, you must see that you have become a target. Staying here, under our protection, really is your best option."

Under your control, you mean, Sarah thought to herself, but didn't say anything. "My safety isn't what we're here to discuss. My parents' decision to keep my existence a secret has meant that you have never meant to deal with the existence of hybrids before. However, with the data on their creation now publicly available-"

"With the data now publicly available, there is nothing stopping Cerberus from creating armies of hybrids that won't succumb to their defects," the turian councillor pointed out.

"Except that Cerberus wants to demonise the hybrids. Combine that with them using the cure to motivate the hybrids and I don't think they'll use the revised system."

"You don't think?! Do you really expect us to-"

"Yes! Damn right I expect you to listen to me on this. And on all matters to do with the hybrids. Let's face it, councillors, they need a voice and, for now, I'm the best candidate so I'll just have to do."

"Then what exactly are you after?" the asari councillor countered.

"I'm after recognition. I want you to recognise hybrids as you do any other species, to grant us with the same rights and protections of any other citizen of Citadel Space. I don't think that's too big of an ask, do you?"

The pause before anyone answered was about as encouraging as the uneasy looks most of the councillors shared but, eventually, the asari councillor said, "Agreed."

"Thank you," Sarah replied, glad that the krogan councillor had been right.

"There is one more matter we wanted to discuss," the salarian councillor told her. "The hybrid girl on your ship? We'd like her to remain on the Citadel so that our scientists can look at her. Surely you can agreed that our equipment is better than anything on the Normandy for monitoring her progress."

"It's not a question of equipment," Sarah countered, "it's one of expertise. I need to be the one monitoring her, so she stays with me."

"Our offer for you to stay here, under our protection, is, of course, still open."

Sarah almost groaned at their persistence. "Thank you for the offer but I would much rather keep monitoring her on the Normandy. It's simply more convenient. Now, if that is all, I have other matters to attend to."

Most of the councillors were angered by her dismissing them like that but they reluctantly nodded, allowing her to go.

"You okay?" Tiberius asked as soon as she left, seemingly having not moved from outside the council chambers since she had entered.

"Yeah. I got what I wanted, at least, I'm just… tired, I guess."

"Come on, my place isn't too far from here."

Once they reached Tiberius' apartment, Sarah let out a sigh of relief, immediately moving over to sit at the windowsill, earning her a funny look from her bondmate.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing. Just… reminds me of the time you broke in here. It was the first real time we had talked since I had admitted that I knew who you were and… I think it was when I began to admit to myself how I felt about you…"

She smiled at that before letting her gaze wander the space. She remembered it being sparse but… she supposed that it had never really struck her like this before. "You don't really have much here," she ventured.

He shrugged. "I guess… this was never really home, you know? I still thought of my mom's house as home when I first came here and… after she died… I never really figured out how to make a new one here. Everything was just pain and anger and I had no room in my heart for anything else. So, this just became a place to sleep. Nothing more."

"That never changed, did it?"

"I had once hoped that it might - that this place might once become a home - but… then you left. And I realised that, without you, this place could never become my home because my home was with you."

She responded by getting up, moving over to kiss him, to assure him that she was there, with him. "I'm not leaving you," she told him as she pulled away. "I promise that you won't have to go through that again."

"I don't think that's something within your power to promise," he pointed out.

"I don't care. I won't leave you alone again."

Before he could reply again, Sarah's omni-tool beeped at them.

"It's the quarian councillor," she told him. "She wants to speak with me."

"Didn't you just speak with them?"

"I think this is more of a personal chat. Don't worry, she's on our side."

"You wanted to see me?" Sarah asked as she approached the cafe table where the councillor was sitting.

"Yes, just briefly without the other councillors present. I just… I wanted to thank you for standing up to them. For allowing free access to the data, regardless of what they say."

"It was no problem," Sarah told her as she sat down opposite her. "Restriction of information is a pet peeve of mine. Which, thinking on it, is probably something I get from my mother."

"I suppose, after what happened with the previous council keeping the truth about the Reapers to themselves and painting her as delusional, she would be against keeping things from the general public."

"You can say that again… Though, I have to say, it was never an attitude that I expected a councillor to approve of."

"Quarians keep little from the public. We trust each other. I guess it was just something we had to learn to do on the fleet and, even now, it's something that has remained."

"Plus a little personal interest never goes amiss, right?"

The quarian councillor looked away but smiled. "I guess not."

"I'm still worried about Cerberus, though. Not about them using the data but about them targeting those who do…"

"I don't doubt that the end of Cerberus is near. They cannot stay hidden for long."

"I hope you're right."

"Me too. While I have the resources of the council at my disposal, I realise that others in my situation don't necessarily have that. Though I will petition the rest of the council to offer protection to all those expecting hybrids while Cerberus is still around. I believe your friend is one of them?"

"Yes. And I would be most grateful for any protection you can give her. I… I fear that in my eagerness I lost sight of just how much danger Cerberus could be to those who chose to use the data."

"It should be up to us if we want to take that risk, though. Which is why you did the right thing in releasing the data. And I truly believe that, given a little reminder, the rest of the Council will do the right thing too."

"Then you have far more faith in them than I do."

"You just don't know them. Trust me, they're not as bad as they might seem."

"I guess I'll just have to take your word for it…"

"This place is a mess," Tia declared as she went through her and Philip's things in their apartment, trying to decide what to leave and what to take back with them onto the Normandy. "We didn't really leave things in such a state, did we?"

"We did leave almost immediately after our engagement party," Philip reasoned. "I'm just glad we managed to chuck out all of the food."

"Not all of it. And there is no way in hell I'm checking the fridge."

"Yuck, me neither… I'm glad we kept this place, though. Instead of just moving everything into storage."

"Me too. Sort of. I mean, it would be a pain to move but… it's not as if we can't afford it or anything but it seems a little like an unnecessary expense."

"Are you kidding? This place is great. It's big, close to everything and, well, there's a pretty big second bedroom…"

Tia refused to lift her head from her work, pretending not to realise what he was really saying. "Well, I guess that's why we didn't give it up," she said simply. "Okay, I think that's everything we need. At least, for now. It probably won't be too long before we're back here again."

"Probably not," Philip agreed. Tia was thankful that he seemed to have dropped his previous line of thinking. It wasn't something she felt comfortable going anywhere near.

"So, was there anything else you wanted to do while we were here?" Tia asked as they headed out, their belongings now packed away into bags.

"Not really. You?"

She was about to reply when she felt a chill down her spine, as if unwanted eyes were upon her. She spun around, trying to find the source of the feeling, but finding nothing.

"You okay?" Philip asked, his tone soaked with concern.

"I…" she started but trailed off, shaking her head. "I could have sworn… Something doesn't feel right."

"Tia?"

"We're being followed."

"You're sure?"

"I… Yeah," she told him before taking his hand, leading him quickly through a back alley.

She continued to drag him along through twisting turn after twisting turn and not for one second did her grip on his hand loosen, instead only seeming to grow tighter.

"Tia, are you okay?" he managed to ask her as they ran.

"Fine. Just… we need to get back," she replied hurriedly as she continued to lead him through the winding alleys.

It wasn't much longer before they made it to the docks but Tia didn't seem to breathe again until they were within the Normandy's airlock.

"Hey," Philip said as he noted the distress across her features. "You're okay," he told her, wrapping her up in his arms. "You're okay."

"I know," she replied. "I'm sorry. I just… I know it sounds dumb but I could have sworn we were being followed."

"It's okay. I'm used to your paranoia by now," he assured her, a little jokingly.

"I'm not that bad, am I?"

"Tia, it's perfectly understandable. You had to spend years running from shadows. But that hasn't been your life for years now and it doesn't have to be again…"

She nodded in agreement. "Do you think it was just in my head?"

"Do you?"

"I… I'm not sure," she admitted. "You're right to say that I, on occasion, can be prone to a little paranoia but… I also don't want to just ignore it. Just in case…"

"So, what do you want to do?"

"For now, I'm gonna talk to Sarah… Maybe she sensed something or… something… I don't know…"

Philip just smiled as he kissed her softly. "Sounds like a good place to start," he assured her.

"Okay, so, talking to Sarah…" Tia said before moving away towards the lift, making her way to the medbay.

"Hey," Sarah greeted as soon as she entered. "You're just in time!"

"For what?" Tia asked, moving over to where Sarah was standing at the bedside of the hybrid girl.

"Well, the cure has taken well enough that she should no longer be in pain so we've stopped the sedatives. She should be waking up at any moment. Anyway, you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"And here I thought you were still struggling with your telepathy."

"I am. But I'm not so bad as to need telepathy to tell me when my best friend needs me. So, what's up?"

Tia shrugged awkwardly. "Just… I know it sounds dumb but… I could have sworn someone was following me on the Citadel… I was wondering if… If you had sensed anything…"

Sarah gave her an apologetic shrug. "I'm sorry but… I didn't notice anything. But the Citadel is a big place and I have been tired and distracted all day."

"It's okay. I didn't really expect anything different. I just… I guess I'd hoped for a little assurance that I wasn't being paranoid…"

"Do you think you're being paranoid?"

"Why is that the first thing everyone asks?"

"Because it's the only thing that really matters."

Tia sighed at that, folding her arms. "The problem is I'm not sure. You know what it's like, no matter how much time passes, the shadows still seem to follow you at times."

"Yeah, I know. But you should also trust your instincts. They've not let you down so far."

"I guess not. Thanks, Sarah."

"No problem," her friend replied, just as the hybrid began to wake. "Hey," Sarah greeted softly.

The hybrid girl didn't reply, just staring blankly at the two of them, seeming scared.

"Are you okay?" Sarah asked but received no reply.

"Maybe she can't understand us…" Tia ventured.

"Then this could be problematic…"