Liara heard Wrex call out to Shepard and she snapped her head up to scan the debris field. Motion in the far corner caught her eye and she focused on a flash of auburn. It didn't even register with the Asari that the commander had somehow lost her helmet; such a minor detail was overridden by the fact Samantha was alive... and walking toward Liara under her own power. The fear and adrenalin that was keeping her on her feet faded with the sight of her lover climbing through the remains of the Council Chambers and Liara sank to her knees, thanking the Goddess for her beneficence and the return of her newly discovered partner. As the commander cleared the last obstacle, Liara dug deep for the required energy to rise and meet her and hobbled slowly forward. She saw Samantha pause and close her eyes and panic threatened to engulf the Asari for just a brief instant... until the commander's eyes opened once more and she resumed her journey. Liara gasped out the breath she was holding and hurried as best she could to her love. They crashed together and Shepard grunted in pain. Liara let out a quick exclamation, "Oh, Goddess! I'm so sorry, Shepard!" before she showered Samantha's face with kisses. She touched her forehead to Samantha and her eyes were starting to go black when she heard Captain Anderson clear his throat and she forced back her desire for the light meld, her eyes returning to a crystal blue.

Shepard laughed with joy and looked around, finally realizing there were a lot more people in the room with them. When she noticed Anderson, she broke out into a huge grin. "God damned good to see you, Anderson!"

Captain Anderson just shook his head, a wide smile on his face, and said, "Likewise, Commander. Let's get you all out of here."

The rescue teams poured in and shifted everyone but Wrex onto a stretcher to haul them out and get them to the hospital. They all breathed a sigh of relief when Wrex declined a ride on a gurney; they had no idea how they were going to carry a ton of up-armored Krogan without an anti-gravity lift, and they didn't have one with them. Once loaded in the ambulance and enroute to Huerta Memorial, Shepard let herself relax and found herself unable to stay awake; she slipped rapidly into unconsciousness. As they burst into the hospital, the emergency response team shouted at one of the attending physicians, Dr Chloe Michel. "Doc, blood pressure's crashing! She's gotta have a bleeder, probably from the shrapnel puncture!"

Chloe grabbed Shepard's dog tags and then glanced over her shoulder at a med tech. "Push three units B-Neg synth. Now! Put her in O-R two!" While the crew moved Shepard to an operating table and Doctor Michel stepped into a sanitization unit, the lead field medic gave her the run down. "She took a hard hit to the left side. Two broken ribs, stabilized. Reset a left shoulder dislocation and the wrap on her head is holding a cold-pack... left side contusion and probable concussion. Gunshot wound was small caliber, pistol or machine-pistol, happened a while ago and was sealed with medigel, no exit wound so she has ammo still wandering around in there somewhere. Only other active injury is the hunk of shrapnel hanging out of her left thigh. I didn't want to pull it during transport. We just stabilized it best we could to prevent further damage." The sanitizer beeped, signaling the cycle was complete, and Doctor Michel nodded a quick thank you to the medic and dived into the operation. The savior of the Citadel was not dying on her table. Not today.

After Liara's gunshot wounds had been stitched and the skin regenerated, she had been released for light duty but she wasn't going anywhere. She hovered anxiously in the waiting room waiting for news on Shepard, along with Wrex, Captain Anderson and Dr Chakwas. When Dr Michel finally emerged, Karin immediately took the lead. "Chloe, thank God. I know Shepard was in good hands, but I'm sorry I couldn't get here fast enough to assist. How is she?"

Chloe smiled. "Karin! Good to see you! Your help would have been appreciated, but the commander's going to be fine. She gave us a scare, though. Too much movement before the medics got that piece of shrapnel stabilized, and it nicked the lower lateral femoral circumflex artery."

Karin's eyes got wide as she responded, "Thank God it happened in the ambulance on the way here! You say she's fine, so you obviously found it quickly and got her stabilized?"

"Yes. But between that and her other injuries, she still took seven units of synth by the time we were done. Once we located the penetration, the arterial repair was relatively easy and the tissue was in good condition, so I anticipate a full recovery with no complications, though she'll require a bit of physical therapy. The shrapnel ripped right through the center of the left quadriceps rectus femoris muscle. Her leg is going to be quite sore for a while." Chloe continued her rundown of the rest of Shepard's injuries, ending with the concussion. "Now, the only thing that concerns me is the concussion. She's still in and out from the anesthesia, so I haven't been able to evaluate the severity of the head injury yet. Scans show it to be only mild, but I'm withholding diagnosis until she's actually awake and responsive."

Karin nodded. "Thank you, Chloe. I know you're busy, so I'll let you get back to it. I'll stay with Shepard, so don't worry about her. Take care of the rest of these poor souls."

Dr Michel thanked her, gave them Shepard's room number, and headed back into the treatment area, vanishing behind the swinging doors. Karin turned to find two sets of expectant eyes. "I suppose you want all that translated into layman's terms, yes?"

Wrex didn't really care; he heard the doctor say Shepard was going to be fine. Since he didn't care about the details, he trundled off to go find the commander as soon as he heard the room number. "I'll see you all in a bit. The Doc said Shepard's going to be fine. I'm going to make sure she stays that way."

Wrex hung around in Shepard's room, to the great annoyance of the nurses trying to take care of the commander. Asking him to leave was completely pointless; the only response they got was a growl. If they wanted to touch Commander Shepard, they had to get past Wrex first, and he glowered at them the entire time they were in the room. He made it agonizingly obvious he didn't want anything bad to happen to the commander while under their care. It took Dr Chakwas personally vouching for the hospital staff before Wrex relaxed enough to give them free access...but he still watched. Karin thought them all lucky that Wrex had been on the Normandy long enough to come to trust her judgment, or treatment would have remained exceedingly difficult. As it turned out, Karin figured a Krogan bodyguard wasn't necessarily a bad thing and thanked the big lug for watching out for Shepard. Karin was both touched and surprised by the longest string of words she'd ever heard Wrex put together at one time.

"It is not a deed that needs thanks. She trusted in me enough to let me come along for the ride. She was willing to take on an extra mission to help me recover my ancestral armor. She helped me destroy the abominations they dared call Krogan on Virmire, and just like she promised she would, she took me to the final battle with Saren. While she and Liara bounced that thing back and forth, I got to fire the final kill shot that ultimately turned him into ash. She is many things. A respected commander and a trusted ally. My sister-in-arms and my Krantt. My best friend. That makes her and her mate family. So now, I will watch over my family until they are fully capable of doing it again on their own." His flame-orange eyes remained focused on the door, watching for the next victim who dared enter his temporary domain. Karin looked at Liara but said nothing. There were tears in the young Asari's eyes as she gazed in astonishment at the Krogan at the door.

It was late in the evening when Shepard finally came to her senses and realized she hurt all over. Her head. Her shoulder. Her ribs. Her leg. Ouch. She groaned in pain just trying to shift on the bed to get more comfortable. She heard Karin's voice from her right before she even got her eyes open, and someone gripped her left hand from the other side of the bed. Liara. She'd know the soft texture of that hand anywhere.

"Are you with us, Commander?" From the tone, Shepard realized quickly it was Dr Chakwas speaking, not Karin.

"Yeah, Doc. I'm here, though kinda wishing I was still asleep. Hurts like a bitch." She felt a squeeze of her left hand accompanied by a loving stroke up her arm, and heard a chuckle from Karin.

"You're lucky to be alive, Shepard. I wouldn't complain if I were you. Liara described what it was like in the Council Chambers. Sounded horrid." Karin sighed. "Anyway, that's in the past, and you're still here in the present. That's what matters. Now, are you going to go back to sleep, or do you think you could open those baby greens for me? You have a concussion, and I need to see how responsive your pupils are."

Shepard's eyelids fluttered and they cracked open for just the merest of moments before reclosing. Karin wasn't pleased when Shepard passed out again before she could complete the examination and noted in the file that the commander should remain under observation for at least forty-eight hours, if not seventy-two, depending on how she responded over the next couple of days. She sat back down to wait...again. She and Liara ended up spending a rather uncomfortable night dozing off and on in their chairs, as the commander repeated her brief visit twice more, before fully regaining consciousness the next morning. When Karin was finally able to perform a complete examination, she stuck by her forty-eight to seventy-two hour observation period and noted the results of her exam so Dr Michel would be able to review them. "Well, Commander. You seem to be doing well enough that I'm going to go relax for a bit, grab some lunch and give you two some private time. No melding during your observation period... your brain needs rest." She looked pointedly at Liara, who first blushed and then nodded in silent acceptance. Before she left, Karin adjusted Shepard's bed to a sitting position for lunch and then glared at the Krogan. "Now, Wrex. I assume you can stand guard from outside the door just as well?"

The big Krogan grumbled, but agreed, and followed Chakwas out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. As the door closed, Shepard turned her head to look at the devoted Asari at her side. "Hey Blue." Her voice was quiet and still slightly raspy from the anesthesia-induced sleep. "You ok?"

Liara's face was lit with happiness now that Samantha was awake and speaking. "Yes, love. Especially now. My heart was broken when I thought I'd lost you, so soon after discovering what we could be to one another." Liara sniffed and blinked away tears before they fell. "But as Karin said, it's in the past, and you're here now, with me, and we are both alive... and I am greatly relieved." She leaned forward and gave the commander a quick peck on the lips, happy to have her back but not wanting to stress her body. A light blush spread across her cheeks as she withdrew.

Samantha smiled, "You should know I'm not going to give you up that easy." She groaned again as she shifted slightly on the bed. "Damn. They could make these things a bit more comfortable, don't ya think?"

Liara laughed. "I don't know. I do not spend near as much time in them as you seem to. Perhaps you should consider my strategy, rather than how to make the beds softer for yours."

Shepard grunted in pain as she inadvertently barked out a hard laugh. "Ow! T'Soni, you wound me. You're getting better at your short zingers lately. The crew has taught you too well!" Shepard reached up and brushed her fingers across the attractive blush that glowed on Liara's face. "Speaking of which, how did the Normandy fare?"

Liara's smile and her blush faded as she put on her business mask. "Well, you've seen me and Wrex, so you know we are fine. One of Tali's suit ruptures resulted in an infection, so they put her in an isolation ward for ten days, where she'll receive a full course of antibiotics. Other than that, she was in pretty good shape. She'll be happy to hear you're going to recover in a few days' time."

"Good. I was worried about her. I know those suits are supposed to automatically seal off individual sections of the suit in the event of breach, but she really took a beating. She's tough, though." Shepard squeezed Liara's hand. "Like you."

Liara smiled lightly, "Like me? You mean she also breaks down and cries every time she gets somewhere private after seeing you injured? That's assuming she's even able to get somewhere private, first."

Shepard looked chagrined. "I'm sorry, Liara. I hate that me getting injured is so hard for you. I'm afraid as an Alliance Vanguard, that's not going to change any time soon." Shepard blinked a couple of times before casting her eyes elsewhere, unable to look Liara in the face.

She felt Liara's hand on her cheek, pulling her head back around to look at her as she leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on Samantha's lips, lingering a little longer this time to reassure the commander. "That's just who you are, Shepard. You throw yourself willingly into harm's way to prevent others from getting injured. As much as I dislike it, it's also one of the things I love about you. Your compassion and your dedication to your friends and your crew...it's part of what makes you who you are. And you are exceptional at what you do. I wouldn't have you any other way." Liara paused for a second, rethinking her last statement. "Actually, I may not wish you to be any different, but I'd rather the galaxy be a place where such self-sacrifice wasn't necessary anymore."

Shepard's smile returned to her face. "And that's one of the things I love about you. Your kind and gentle exterior surrounds a constitution of titanium. You hope for and want the best, while at the same time preparing yourself in the event the worst comes to pass. You're stronger than most people give you credit for. I know better. I've seen your strength."

Liara blushed and answered very quietly. "Yes, well, that's mostly due to you. And while you are my strength, you are also my greatest weakness. To see you hurt tears my heart apart, and I would do or give anything to see it not so. But my heart heals just as your injuries do, and I wouldn't want to limit the passion with which you live and breathe for anything, so wipe the regret from your face and the protest from your lips, because they are not necessary." Liara leaned forward and placed yet another kiss on the commander's lips to keep her from speaking any more words of apology. "Now. The Normandy. The ship fared well, but we've run her hard these past months and she took a couple of hits during the battle so it will take a few weeks to complete the repairs. While she's in, they'll also complete a few minor retrofits and give her a new paint job. So, the Alliance has given the entire crew two weeks of paid shore leave during the retrofits."

"Sweet!" Shepard's face brightened at the news. "If we get a chance, I'd love to finally introduce you to my mom. Would that be ok?"

A flash of hesitation flew across Liara's face before she smiled, but once she did, Shepard could tell it was an honest one and not forced there for her benefit. "Yes. I think that would be nice. I will look forward to meeting the woman who raised such an inspiring daughter." Liara paused only briefly before continuing. "Then if at all possible, I need to continue on to Thessia." Liara saw a cloud pass over Shepard's expression. "You with me, of course..." The cloud lifted slightly. "I have business to attend to, but I would also like to introduce you to my homeworld. Where I grew up, both in Armali and out on the country estate."

Shepard tried to sit up straighter and groaned, relaxing back onto the bed and beckoning Liara to her. As Liara leaned forward for a kiss, Shepard grabbed her and pulled her into a gentle hug, to which the Asari happily acquiesced. "Oh, Shepard. Thank the Goddess you came through this alright. I'm not sure what I would have done had you... had anything happened to you."

Shepard held on long enough to whisper in her ear, "You're strong, Liara, and you're young. You would have recovered and moved on. I can't say how long it would have taken, but you would do it. But it doesn't matter, because I'll be fine." Shepard released her hold with one last extra squeeze, and Liara stood back up.

Shepard narrowed her eyes in concentration. "That does beg a question though, Liara." She put the question together in her head before finally voicing it. "What about after? I have two weeks, then I need to come back. What will you do to stay busy after I leave? I know you're not just going to sit around waiting on me."

Liara was instantly shattered. Her face fell and she stuttered, "You...You're leaving me behind? On... Thessia? Do you not... want me... on your Spectre squad anymore, Shepard?" Liara had to force the question out from between her lips.

"What?" Shepard's face reflected an equivalent shock. "Wait. You want to stay? With me, I mean? You just said you have stuff on Thessia you need to do." Shepard shook her head in her confusion. "By the Gods, Liara! Of course I want you with me! I just thought... from the way you talked about continuing on to Thessia, I thought you meant to stay there!"

Liara cried out in delight. "Oh, thank the Goddess! Don't scare me like that! I have an executor watching the estate! What I need to do on Thessia is make long term arrangements with her! I want to stay with you, Shepard! Always!" Liara leaned back in for a slightly more exuberant hug as a smile of joy spread rapidly across her face.

Their continued banter was eventually interrupted by Dr Michel bringing them dinner and checking Shepard over yet one more time. "Well, Commander. You seem to be doing well. As long as you get a good night's sleep and don't regress overnight, I think tomorrow we can open your room to visitors in addition to your significant other and your bodyguard."

Shepard grinned. "That would be awesome, Doctor. The crew has been pestering Liara all day with messages asking how I am. I don't think they'll really believe it until they see for themselves. How about an estimate on when I can get out of here?"

Chloe smiled, "Garrus did say you were always the impatient one. Always ready to charge ahead. Something to do with being an Alliance Vanguard, I believe. But no worries, Commander. I imagine if you have a second good night in a row and can get up and move around on your own by then... I would think the following morning. And we're bringing a chair in here for Wrex." Chloe stopped to laugh. "He's scaring people and disrupting traffic in the hallway. The administrator wanted me to keep you for a third day, to be safe, until almost everyone at the staff meeting complained about the Krogan thug threatening to snack on the staff if they hurt you!" They sat and chatted for a bit while Shepard ate, and Chloe remarking on her excellent appetite.

Shepard shrugged. "Yesterday we had breakfast, and at some point during the chase we shared an energy bar. I woke up after breakfast today, and for some reason they thought since I hadn't had any hard food for a while, all I could have for lunch was soup and some crackers. It didn't last very long. I'm starving!"

Chloe frowned at the mention of soup and crackers and pulled the commander's chart. "Shepard. I'm sorry... that's all my fault. I failed to annotate that you were to be placed on a Biotic diet! I'll get it fixed right away, and I'll make sure they bring up a high-calorie snack and electrolyte drink in a couple of hours. You need to replenish your reserves."

After that, Chloe stepped out, and not long after that a couple of orderlies showed up with more comfortable chairs for Wrex and Liara.

The next day, a number of the crew came and went, mostly the ground team members, but a few others showed up as well. Most notable was Food Specialist Carlton Tucks... with a bag of fresh made oatmeal cookies. "I know what it's like trying to survive on hospital food. No way I'll leave you to their mercy, Commander! Also, in the bottom of the bag is an extra little pouch with some of those little sweet eezo cubes Dr T'Soni likes." Carlton shrugged his shoulders and let out his characteristic shy little laugh. "I mean, she's here like, all the time, taking care of you, so I thought she deserved a little treat too."

Shepard was also allowed to have her omnitool back and she promptly called her mom and then made travel arrangements to get to the fleet and then on to Thessia. The day went extremely well and by the afternoon, by hanging onto Liara's arm for support, Shepard was able to get up and take a short stroll to the common room at reception, where she ran into Dr Michel. Chloe's eyes zeroed in on the commander as soon as she came through the doors. "Well, Commander! Look at you. I guess tomorrow morning you'll probably be leaving us, assuming your stroll doesn't have any negative effects. Get yourself back to your room and don't overdo it. I want you out of here tomorrow and would hate to see you do something silly that might prevent that from happening."

Shepard laughed. "Trust me, Doc. Liara here had us stop three times to sit down to rest. She's not taking any chances. We have travel plans, and she wants to make sure I can handle the trip. This is a supervised test drive, not a lover's stroll."

Chloe had to laugh at the expression on Liara's face, telling her that what Shepard said was completely true, but that she also didn't appreciate being 'outed' so publicly. Chloe shook her head as she guided them back to the elevator to return to the inpatient floor. "Fine, I'll leave you to the care of your private doctor, but do me a favor and at least stay on your own floor. I'm surprised Wrex didn't follow you down here."

Shepard's eyes got wide. "Ooooh no! He tried, but one glare from Liara brought that boy to heel. He knows better than to take on Dr T'Soni once her mind is made up! Even Wrex won't go there!"

Chloe looked at the sweetly smiling Asari before her. "Hmmm. They always do say to watch out for the quiet ones. I think perhaps I may have misread you, Doctor. I'll see you both in the morning. Now, back to your own floor. Doctor's orders."

The next morning, Chloe woke them bright and early at 8 AM. A quick exam with brief follow-up instructions for what remained of her injuries, and Shepard was cleared from the hospital. Shepard and Liara stepped into the bathroom to shower and dress, and when they stepped out ready to depart, Wrex handed them Shepard's discharge paperwork, saying Dr Michel had dropped them off while they were otherwise indisposed. He then cleared his throat. "Shepard. Thanks for a hell of a ride. You're back up and about, getting out of this hell hole, and you've got a strong mate at your side. I gave some thought to what you've been saying about Tuchanka. You're right; it's time I go back and see what I can do to change things. I'm not two hundred anymore. I can probably make a real difference now, even if it will take knocking some heads. But I'm ready to do that. It's time the Krogan quit being mercenaries for hire and work for ourselves for a change. You're always welcome on Tuchanka, and in regards to Sovereign, I'll just say this... if you find any more big monsters, you call me. The Krogan will come help you kill them!"