***Author's Note***

I'm sorry that people think the chapters are short :/ I like to think I leave them off in good places to leave you all wanting to read the next chapter :)

Thanks again to Gamer072196 for all your support :)

Enjoy and review and stuff ^-^

Chapter 17 - An Almost Moment

Marie had cried enough. Her family was dead and there was nothing she could do about it. She would hold them close to her heart and live for them. She had run a quick search on her sister's grand-children and great grand-children, it so happened that they had left Earth and settled on a colony called Tiptree. Shepard offered to take her to see them but she decided against it. She didn't want to intrude on what she hoped was a peaceful life for them all.

She sat in the cockpit with Joker as they left Earth behind, Joker happily chomped on the burger they had brought him back. The rest of the crew were currently in the Mess enjoying their own Earth foods; doughnuts, pizza, burgers, sushi and pie. A strawberry glazed doughnut had her name on it and Thane had saved it in their room as he meditated.

She sighed as they passed beneath the moon that her brother had helped colonise. "You okay?" Joker asked as he wiped his greasy finger on his pants.

"Yeah, I don't know what I was expecting. But I feel like I can move forward now." She smiled at him as she bobbed her head.

"You know, I have family on Tiptree. Could be that they know one another?"

"I hope so. That would be one hell of a family reunion!" She laughed and felt almost herself again. "Did you enjoy your burger?"

"Did I! The best food I've had in a long time." His fingers danced along the controls as he prepped for the Relay.

"Shush! Don't let Gardner hear that. He'll cry."

Joker laughed and finished typing in the codes. "He'll spit in my food."

Marie stood as she chuckled. "Thanks for that image, Joker."

"Any time, man."

Shepard waited for Marie as he watched her leave the cockpit. She grinned at him as she stepped down the steps and into the CIC. He input the next destination and stepped down from the Galaxy map to join her in the elevator.

"Hey, Commander."

"I swear, if I have to tell you again I'll throw you out the airlock."

She laughed as they stepped into the elevator and waited for it to take them to the floor below. "Sorry, Shepard. So what's happening?"

Ah, small talk. My favourite. "I'm heading to engineering. Apparently there's something up with Jack. You wouldn't happen to know what it is, hmm?"

Suddenly, the floor seemed very interesting to Marie as she scowled at it with her lip between her teeth. "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about, sir."

"Marie..."

"Shepard..."

He laughed then as the door opened and shoved her out of it, she squealed at the sudden change in her speed and spun to retaliate as the doors suddenly shut. "Ha. Thanks Edi."

"You're welcome, Shepard." Her voice echoed around him.

The rest of the ride was slow and quiet and once again, Shepard lamented on the absolute slowness of the elevator. Maybe it's faulty? Should get Tali or Marie to have a nosy at it, I guess.

Eventually the doors opened and he very nearly collided with Grunt who was tapping his foot impatiently. "What you up to, Grunt?"

"Food time!" He was practically jumping in excitement. "I heard there's some Earth treats ready for the taking." He grinned and licked is lips with his large tongue.

"Go ahead."

He jumped in the elevator and jabbed at the button with his stubby fingers. My little boy...all grown up. He laughed at his thoughts and went through the door and down the stairs to Jack's domain.

She jumped up as he entered, her agitation was almost palpable.

"I got thoughts." Oh, really? "Like, little bugs crawling in and out of my head. I can't stop them." She stomped past Shepard toward the steps of her 'room'. Shepard followed her around the corner to find her sat upon the metal stairs, her head in her hand and knee bouncing as her foot balanced on its ball. "You know I have a history with Cerberus. You know how far back it goes." Of course he did, he'd read every bit of information he had given her...not that she knew that.

"Go on..." He drawled. Not unkindly but he was impatient.

"Your pal...the Illusive Man," Shepard grit his teeth at hearing the Illusive man being referred to as his 'pal'. "Never seen him before, but Cerberus raised me. First thing I remember is my cell door in a Cerberus base; they did experiments on me, drugged me, tortured me. Whatever chance I had to be normal, they stole it by trying to turn me into some super biotic." She leant over to one side, resting her hand on her leg and sneered. "The doctors...the other kids, everyone of them hated me. They let me suffer."

Shepard felt for her, he really did, but he was a busy man and he knew exactly what Cerberus had done to Jack. The sick experiments on Pragia, the import of children. It made him angry and he simply wanted to know what Jack wanted to do about it.

"So...what do you want to do? I mean, it was a long time ago. Cerberus probably isn't even there anymore, man."

Jack sighed and shook her head. "It's Cerberus, I don't care how far down the chain it was. They thought they were so clever. Turns out, mess with someone's head enough and you can turn a scared kid into an all-powerful bitch. Fucking idiots."

"I'll talk to the Illusive Man, see if he has some answers." He rolled his eyes. I really doubt it.

"He'll just deny everything. That's not what I'm after anyway. I found the co-ordinates in your files," Because I put them there. "I want to go to the Teltin facility on Pragia where they tortured and drugged me." She stood and took a few steps toward him. "I wanna go to the center of the place, my cell, I wanna deploy a big fucking bomb, and I wanna watch from orbit when it goes."

Oh Gods. Shepard sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm all for it Jack." She seemed stunned at his simple acceptance. "It's just...where do you think we'll get this bomb?"

Jack let out a short, breathy laugh. "Already covered." She crossed her arms with a smirk on her face.

"What do you mean?" He cocked a brow at her.

"Marie has been designing and slowly building one." She smirked again. "It's very good."

"She fucking what!" He mouth nearly hit the floor. She's been building a bomb! On my ship!?

"Yeah, so when do we go?"

"I have something to do first. Next couple of days. She built a bomb?" He could hardly believe it.

"Okay and yeah."

"I have work to do..."

He heard Jack laugh as he spun on his heel and head back toward the elevator.

Thane heard Marie squeal in the Mess and stood. Only to smirk as he realised that it was with laughter.

He sat back down on his got and continued to meditate. He heard the door open and her light footsteps tap against the floor. She paused and he assumed it was as she realised he was meditating. A small rustling announced that she had found the sticky sweet treat he had rescued from the Mess for her. A small sigh escaped her, one of pure bliss.

He blinked his eyes open and watched her as she took a bite from the doughnut. The glistening pink icing cracked as her mouth shut on it. The sugar smeared her lips as she licked them delicately.

"Do you want some?"

His eyes met hers. She was watching him, partly amused and partly concerned.

"Ah, no. Thank you." He nodded and brought his clasped hands to his chin.

"You're watching it with hungry eyes. I can share it, if you want?"

He chuckled. "It is not the doughnut I want." He stopped and could feel his blood rush from his face even as he watched the colour rise in hers. Arashu, did I just say that?

She took a deep breath and placed the treat back into its paper and rubbing the sugar from her fingers. "Hey...umm...I have a question. I'm just worried it'll be personal. I've just been thinking about you, is all"

"And I you." She grinned at him. "What is your question?"

"I'm just wondering about...siha."

"Ah." He grinned. He supposed he had left her guessing what it meant for long enough now. "I need to explain myself to you it seems." She leant back in her chair, her knees braced against the desk as she balanced. "When I married Irikah, the hanar let me leave their service to raise a family. But, I had no other skills so I free-lanced. When Irikah was killed, I pursued those responsible. Once I eliminated them I had no goal. I accepted the Dantius commission because I had nothing else to do."

She nodded, he had told her how he had come to be on the ship. "I guess you're lucky Shepard came along when he did." A small frown was on her lips as she thought about what would have happened otherwise.

"It was an intervention by the Gods. I would have died in that penthouse," she winced. "I would have fulfilled my contract. If Nassana's guards caught me afterwards...it would have been a good death. And then Shepard came, brought me here as you still slept upon the cot." He gestured at it and she glanced at it and shivered.

"I had no idea you planned to die in there..." She bit her lip, the lingering sugar cracking beneath the strain.

"It wasn't a plan. My body had accepted it's death...my mind had been dead a long time. But I met another siha. Few are privileged to meet even one." She cocked a brow at him. "You awoke. You showed me how the weak can grow and become strong, how death doesn't always mean the end for those you love. How intelligence, in itself, can save lives. Your selflessness when you jumped to Shepard's rescue without a second thought. Your power and protective nature as you raced to save Jalid and Kolyat."

She smiled then, her teeth flashing in the light and the sugar glittered. "You still haven't told me what a siha is." She pointed out.

He stood and walked around the desk and stood before her. "One of the warrior angels of the goddess Arashu." He bent to her height, theirs eyes level with each other. He licked his lips and smirked when he saw her do the same. "Fierce in wrath, a tenacious protector." He cupped her cheek, his thumb brushing against her pale skin. "I confess, I have come to care for you. Perhaps I am being foolish. We are very different."

She leant into his touch, her hazel eyes looking at him from beneath dark lashes. "I feel something for you too."

His heart lurched and he smiled. Slowly and carefully he leant closer to her face and watched as her eyes shut in anticipation. He took a deep breath.

"Marie!"

She jumped and her eyes snapped at the intruder. Thane had never hated an interruption so much in his life before. He quickly stood to greet their commander as the human stepped around the corner, a low growl vibrated his chest. He heard Marie sigh behind him.

"Yes, Shepard?" The irritation bit at her voice.

"You care to tell me why you are building a fucking bomb on my ship!?"

Thane shook his head and went over to his cot. Clearly, the moment has passed and would not return after this.

"Jack asked for my help, and I gave it. With the condition that she would speak to you about her...situation..."

Shepard just stared at her. His mouth open and eyes wide. He looked at Thane who stared back impassively. "You knew about this?" Thane nodded and turned away, still slightly annoyed at the commander for the interruption. "Is it stable?"

"Of course it is! I wouldn't do it if I didn't know what I was doing!" Her hands waved as she half shouted at the commander.

"And just how do you know how to do this?"

"Cerberus-"

"Shut up!" He made a stopping sign with his fists. "I don't want to know. We'll use your bomb in a few days. We have to go to Bekenstein first."

At this, Thane turned to the commander with a tilt to his head. "Bekenstein?"

"Yeah, something about a party, a grey box and a vault. You know how it goes. Why?"

"I have also been asked to attend. I was not going to go obviously."

"Excellent! This will work in our favour! The more the merrier!" He grinned. "Wait, why have you been asked to go?"

Thane smirked then. "I am very good at my job."

:]

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