Miranda Lawson, David Anderson and Daniel Husk sat together by one table. Miranda explained Daniel how she used to work for Cerberus, what is Cerberus, who is the Illusive man and how she worked with Shepard on the suicidal mission. Anderson introduced himself as one of the front Alliance leaders who cooperates with Shepard and admiral Hackett. He explained Daniel how dangerous his project was. The only thing that Daniel could do in response was to hold his head, shaking it.
"I… I can't believe it. I volunteered to cryo-stasis so I could run away from it. Now it's danger that Cerberus could use it."
"That is why you cannot stay on the Citadel, Daniel. Cerberus might have informants here and if they find out that you're on the Citadel, it won't be safe here anymore. Not for the Council, not for civilians, not for us."
"But I… how can I leave now? I mean… I can't leave the one who I found on the Citadel…"
"Somebody who's dear to you?" Anderson asked and Daniel nodded.
"Listen, Daniel. I know what your life was like before. You are happy that you found yourself somebody who actually cares about you, but think about it. If you stay, you expose yourself and him to the risk of being hurt or worse. The best for all of us is if you return to Normandy and with help of Shepard take care of the blueprints."
"Understood, captain Anderson."
"Once this is over, you can return back." Miranda added and Daniel smiled quite sadly. Now that he just met Renok, he had to go and tell him that he must leave.
"Well, I guess there is nothing else to be said… captain Anderson, Miranda, thank you for telling me." Daniel stood up from the table and decided to go back to Renok's apartment. In the meantime, Shepard was negotiating with admirals taking Tali on board.
"I am not sure if the Migrant fleet can free Tali from her duties, commander. We are planning counter attack after the last Geth attack.
"Admiral Raan, this is important! We cannot complete this mission without Legion. Besides that, Tali wrote me that she wants to join me again so don't try to convince me about-"
"Shepard?" Tali appeared behind Shepard. The commander turned around to the voice, "Shepard! You came!" Tali ran at Shepard, almost making him fall as he tried to hold stability when Tali embraced him.
"Slowly, Tali…"
"Sorry, Shepard. It's good to see you again. I'm ready to leave when you are."
"Hold on, Tali'Zorah. You cannot leave in the middle of-" Admiral Raan said but Tali cut him off.
"Admiral Raan, I am still Tali'Zorah vas Normandy and that means I still belong to Normandy. No matter the times, if Shepard needs me, I am here!"
"Very well, Tali'Zorah. You are free to leave the Migrant fleet, then. Commander Shepard, we trust that you will treat Tali'Zorah well."
"I will. Thank you, admiral." Shepard said and then another quarian joined the conversation.
"Tali! Tali'Zorah!" another quarian called. When Shepard and Tali looked at him, Shepard recognized the voice and the look of his.
"Veetor?" Shepard asked and Veetor stopped by them.
"Commander Shepard? What brings you here?"
"Veetor, I remember you were timid and neurotic… what happened?"
"That's actually my work, Shepard. After our mission I returned to the flotilla and Veetor was put in my custody. I am helping him in every way so he's not that afraid of everything. There are still some problems when being in a crowd though…" Tali explained and Shepard got idea.
"Tali, I think you gave me an idea. I am here because of some urgent reason."
"What happens, Shepard?"
"I need your help in fixing Legion."
"Legion? Shepard, but he's Geth!"
"And it's Geth who fought back Collectors."
"C-C-C-Col-lectors?!" Veetor stuttered. Tali placed hand on his head.
"No, Veetor. No Collectors anymore… you see Shepard, Veetor's still unstable while mentioning something about Collectors."
"Veetor, it's fine. Collectors are gone and you helped us the most when you gave us the first clue."
"Commander… yes, that's right. They're gone… with my help! Thank you, commander."
"Ok, Shepard, I will join you and help to fix Legion, but… Veetor must come with me. He is vulnerable. I cannot let him be alone. You know how it ended on Freedom's Progress." Tali said and Shepard nodded.
"That's what I meant by the idea… Veetor? Do you want to come and help Tali?"
"Yes… Veetor can help. Veetor wants to stay with Tali!" Veetor quickly answered.
"Then we can go. We'll be waiting for you before you get everything packed." Once Shepard said that, Tali with Veetor went to get ready, Shepard returned to the Normandy. Soon everything was ready for them to leave and Normandy left, the next stop was the Citadel where Shepard wanted to bring Daniel back. Daniel was sitting on the bed, waiting for Renok to return. Finally, the door shifted and Renok entered his apartment and the first thing he saw was Daniel sitting on the bed. From his position he could see he was tense.
"I'm back, Dan! How was your day? I hope you weren't bored all day being stuck here!" Renok chuckled, going to the kitchen to take something for him and Daniel to drink. Daniel remained silent. Once Renok came back to Daniel, he sat beside him and offered him drink. "Here, take it." Renok handed him a can of beer but Daniel merely blinked, looking at his hands put together like in gesture of begging.
"No? Ok… maybe we could go out and eat something out!" Renok suggested with smile on his face. The smile got lost rapidly as soon as he saw Daniel's eyes flickering with newly created tears, "Daniel? What is happening?" Renok asked, a heavy jerky breath forming as Daniel tried to inhale through cry hurting his throat, "Dan? Why don't you talk to me, my boy?" Renok asked and Daniel couldn't hold it anymore.
"I can't… I can't, Renok…" Daniel whispered painfully as cry broke his voice. Tears started rolling down Daniel's face and Renok couldn't stand a look at this. He placed one talon around Daniel's head and the other one around his other shoulder, pulling him on his shoulder in effort to comfort him.
"It's ok, Dan. Take your time to let it go so you can tell me what's happening." Renok said in soft voice which made Daniel cry even more. Daniel cried for full five minutes and Renok could be happy he still had on his C-Sec uniform which didn't absorb the tears. Once Daniel vented out all sadness, he and Renok were sitting by the table, each one of them on the other side of the table. Renok was explained everything about Daniel, his mission and why he was sad. Once Daniel finished his explanation, Renok was wordless but he had to speak once to make Daniel sure he was fine.
"So… I guess you have to go…"
"I don't want to, Renok."
"But you have to… please. Daniel… don't make it harder for any of us." Renok said, holding Daniel's hand with one of his talons.
"Renok I… I love you. Why do I have to leave when I met you just yesterday?"
"I love you too, and maybe it's better that way. Now, please Daniel… turians don't like to say things twice." Renok said and parted his hand from Daniels. Renok didn't want to show his weakness to Daniel so he frowned at him. Daniel rather listened, but he knew he didn't want this. He barely stood up from the table, trying not to face Renok anymore. He made his way out of the kitchen, heading towards the exit of Renok's apartment. He almost reached the button to open the door but few millimeters from it, Daniel was jerked away and thrown at wall. His hands were pinned to the wall and Renok connected his forehead with Daniel's.
"I… I don't want it either. I don't want you to leave! I don't want you to go anywhere! I don't care what your problems are, what your diagnosis is! I just want you here! With me! Who knows whether I'll see you anymore?! And… and…" Renok said in affect. When Daniel looked into his deep blue eyes, they were making tears. Renok cried and soon he let Daniel's hands be, sobbing with closed eyes as their foreheads were still connected. Daniel was now the one to do the first move. He embraced the turian with both arms and squeezed him in firm hug.
"I'll come back to you, I promise…" Daniel whispered in Renok's ear. Renok didn't stop crying and he didn't want to let go of Daniel either. His hug was tight but careful at once. Daniel was standing there for the last moments so he needed to feel him and remember it because it was possible that they won't meet again. The grip around Daniel eased as soon as Renok felt Daniel was drawing backwards. In the last moment, Daniel didn't want to look in Renok's eyes and left the apartment. Renok remained in solitude again.
Daniel travelled through Citadel to the docking bay D24 and sat in the lounge, waiting to see Normandy landing near to it. Soon the giant ship docked at the Citadel and Garrus came out of the door to escort Daniel inside. He spotted Daniel sitting in the lounge the way he sat in Renok's apartment. Garrus was looking for Daniel over the docking bay, his eye visor scanning everyone around. When he looked at the lounge, his visor caught him. Garrus walked down the lounge and stood in front of Daniel who looked down at his hands. Daniel looked up.
"Are you coming?"
"Yeah… I've been just thinking."
"About what?" Garrus asked but didn't get answer. He decided to sit down and ask him more, "Listen, if I can make you sure about one thing, Shepard's not mad at you."
"Yeah, but that is the least problem…" Daniel said and Garrus didn't understand. Before he asked another question, he sniffed something familiar.
"I know that smell… turian radiates from all your body."
"Let's go on board, I don't want to stay here any longer…" Daniel raised himself but Garrus grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.
"You better tell me what happened. I don't bite even I have teeth for it…" Daniel took a deep breath after Garrus said that in dark tone of his voice. Garrus took seat next to him.
"His name is Renok. He works for C-Sec and he helped me when I got poisoned in bar. He loves me and I do as well… now I have to leave and none of us want it."
"I see. Hey, it's not gonna take long. And also, I'm turian too. It doesn't mean you can fuck me but just so you know you can come and have a chat if that makes you feel better. I'm not into guys, Daniel. Sorry."
"It's fine, Garrus. Let's go and leave this place before I start another waterfall…" Daniel and Garrus stood up. Garrus chuckled to the waterfall comparison. Both of them returned on the deck of Normandy and Daniel went back to the life support. In Terminus systems, the Illusive man was informed about Daniel's presence on the Citadel and Renok. His order to the troops was:
"Make sure that turian is not messing around. I want to hear he will never breathe again…"