Tali was lying on her back on her cot, staring at the ceiling in the darkness while the past three years of her life flickered through her mind in a series of images like a treasured photo album.

Finding Saren's recording in the geth's memory banks. Fist's crooked deal with her. Joining Shepard on the Normandy. Taking down Benezia, the Thorian, and Saren's breeding facility before defeating Saren himself. Shepard's funeral. Kal, her sweet and dear love. Seeing Shepard return from the dead, and joining her again on the Normandy. Taking down the Collector base. Becoming an Admiral. Rejoining Shepard. Taking back Rannoch. Losing her Kal. Seeing Garrus's dead body. The horrific sights and sounds at Sanctuary.

It all lead to the attack on Earth the next day, and the stress was so great that sleep was the farthest thing from her mind. She gave up on the pretense and sat up, throwing her legs over the side of the bed to take a walk through the ship.

Engineering was silent as she made her way to the elevator. She exited on the crew deck where Shepard's current bedding was set up, and although her shadowed form indicated that she was lying on her side sleeping, her breath was too quiet and shallow. Knowing that Shepard's stress far exceeded Tali's, she left her to her thoughts as she wandered towards Liara's office. She didn't hear the voice of the asari or Glyph, so she made her way to the med bay, stopping in front of the hall to the main battery.

The sight of the battery inexplicably sparked an intense fascination within her, so she slowly made her way up the hallway, past rows of empty cryo pods. She had never noticed how long it was; it seemed to stretch farther the longer she walked. But when she reached to open the door the feeling of wrongness stopped her abruptly. The battery was hallowed ground, Garrus's area, and not a single crew member had stepped foot inside since Thessia. She let out an unbidden laugh when she wondered if the Thanix was out of calibration as a result. Her hand slowly returned to her side; she missed Garrus, more than she thought possible, and despite her curiosities the place that was so imprinted with his memories would be too raw and painful. She suddenly had a great urge to see again the stars and the vastness of space, her only true home, and as she made her way to the Port Observation deck the constriction in her chest loosened.

"Oh!" she gasped when she spotted Liara's silhouette against the glass separating the ship from the stars in Port Observation. "Sorry to disturb you, I-"

"It's ok," Liara replied calmly. "I see I am not the only one having difficulty sleeping. Please, stay, I could use the company."

Tali stepped in place beside her. Liara's brow was knit with worry as she gazed at her hands, her fingers laced together. She broke the silence and asked, "Are you scared?"

"Scared? No. Terrified? Petrified? Horrified? Absolutely."

"I feel the same way," Liara responded softly. "This is our only option to have a chance to stop the Reapers."

"Shepard can do it, I know she can."

"I'm scared for Shepard too," Liara admitted. "She believes this is the end. But she does not feel fear, only sadness. She is accepting of her fate. She embraces it."

"Why?"

Liara's eyes lifted to meet Tali's, her gaze burning through her mask. "Although she wants to save the galaxy, she no longer wants to be in it without Garrus."

Tali swallowed hard. "There's always a future for her. There's always someone else."

"There are many who wish to be her suitor. But her heart will always belong to him."

Liara let out a long, low sigh, her gaze turning back to the great divide. "Our time working together is almost over."

"It's been a hell of a journey."

Just like at Shepard's funeral three long years ago, Liara's hand found Tali's and squeezed it.

Speaking in undertones, Tali recited the words of her people. "After time adrift among open stars, through tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began."

"I like that," Liara muttered.

"So do I."