Author's Note: I am so happy to get to this point. The next couple of chapters have some moments in them that I have been super anxious to get to, and I think you've been waiting for them, too! Thank you to those who have added The Reason to their favorite or follow lists. An extra thank you to those who took the time to let me know what you think. Your comments/reviews mean the world to me: Bint-Lilith, Kirabaros, Impslave, Jules Hawke, Vorcha Girl, TaiKee, Kallie6891, Kirsah, Schizoid-Freak, PhoenixAlthor, and ela11. Seriously, thank you!

A side note, I am up for a promotion at one of my jobs and if I get it, that means I'll be working just one job, which will leave more time for writing. My third interview is Tuesday. *fingers crossed*

Thank you again, for all the support... Enjoy! - TLC

Chapter Seventy-Seven

They hadn't been sleeping long when she started thrashing; sobs shook her. Kaidan woke to an elbow in the face and knew instantly he should have expected this. He should have insisted she took the medication from Chakwas before sleeping. A drug induced sleep would have been dreamless. This sleep was anything but. He spoke her name firmly, loudly, ensuring she heard him through her terror and woke. Her fright glazed eyes met his and she threw her arms around him, weeping into his neck. He wrapped his arms around her, and his leg over hers, completely enveloping her and holding her close.

He reached out with one hand and Pulled the bottle off the desk, where he had left it earlier in the evening. He whispered into her ear, soft words of comfort and love. He let her know she wasn't alone as he placed chaste kisses to her jaw line and temple. She calmed, her tears subsiding to soft hiccups and quiet apologies which he brushed aside. "Sloan, Chakwas gave me something earlier to help you sleep." She started to argue with him, insisting she didn't need it. All he had to do was say her name once, his tone firm but full of caring, and she sighed, and agreed.

She swallowed the pills dry, and snuggled back into his side. Her fingers danced over his chest as he felt her body start to relax. "Kaidan?"

"Hm?"

"Will you talk to me? Just, say something, anything. The quiet is … Your voice, it … please?"

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, and tightened his hold on her. He had to admit, he felt a sense of pride in the fact that she found comfort in him. It warmed him, it gave him a purpose, a meaning he never thought he would find. "I got a message from my Mom." He paused when she placed a kiss to his chest. "She's at the orchard and she's taking in refugees."

"Is it big enough for that?"

"Well, we call it an Orchard, but it's really more of a farm. We have horses, cows, chickens, pigs, and a lot of fertile land." His hand slowly stroked along her back. He told her about the farm, and the forest. He told her of the creek and the old farm house with all the bedrooms. He told her of the sky and the mountains, and the way it smelled.

She was asleep faster than he expected, and when her body relaxed on his, heavy with drugs, he kissed her forehead, praying she would have a dreamless sleep. "We could retire there, if you wanted. Dad said, he said the farm was mine when I wanted it. I'll give it to you. I'll give you the farm, the animals, the land. I'll give you … babies if you want them … with me." His voice broke as his eyes filled with tears. He wanted so much to be able to give her those things. "I love you, Sloan." He wrapped her tighter in his arms as he forced the reality of the war away from the front of his mind as he drifted to sleep.

It was unusual for Kaidan to wake before Sloan, but he wasn't surprised when she slept through his alarm. The drugs from Chakwas were powerful. He checked the time and knew he had to get up. They only had six hours before the geth were back to full strength and they needed to stop them before that happened if the Quarian were going to have any chance of, not only taking back Rannoch but surviving.

He glanced down at the woman in his arms. She'd been sleeping so heavily she had barely moved, so heavily there was a spot of drool on his chest. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head before unwrapping himself from her arms. It killed him to do so, but he had no choice. After a quick shower, he checked on her again. She'd wrapped her arms around his pillow in his absence. He lifted the blankets and wrapped them around her. She seemed so small, so fragile, and even though he knew she was anything but fragile, it killed him to think about how mortal she was.

He pressed a kiss to her temple before leaving their quarters. He met Tali, Legion, Garrus, and Raan in the conference room. They spent almost 90 minutes discussing their plan to free the geth from Reaper control. In order to break the reaper connection and stop the signal. Legion stated they needed someone to enter the geth consensus. It needed to be someone with a strong mental fortitude. It needed to be someone who trusted the geth, and wouldn't second guess them while they were linked. It had to be an organic, so they could remain undetected by the geth.

"So, it has to be me." Her voice startled them, and Kaidan's eyes met Shepard's as soon as she started to speak. "I'm not a machine, though, how would I interact with the consensus?" Legion's head light moved from Shepard to Kaidan and back.

"Humans have experimented with virtual interfaces. You, yourself, have experience with one. It is similar."

"You mean Project Overlord? You mean the project that nearly unleased a rogue AI-Human hybrid on the galaxy?" Shepard's voice wasn't accusatory, just concerned. She moved and stood next to him. Her hand brushed his briefly.

"Which is why we require your trust. We have modified the interface and have equipment to facilitate safe contact," Shepard continued to stare at Legion, considering his plan. Kaidan knew they didn't have a choice, not if they wanted to help the Quarian retake Rannoch.

Shepard sighed softly. "When do we go in?" They fleshed out the rest of their plans. Legion would be in the consensus with her; he had no choice, not really, seeing as he was part of the consensus. This was making Kaidan's head hurt, and he liked tech. Kaidan and Garrus would accompany her physically, to ensure nothing happened to her body while she was connected. Tali and Raan would remain on the Normandy to help coordinate the Quarian fleet. "Okay, everyone be ready in twenty. I want to take Rannoch today." Shepard declared dismissing the room. Kaidan waited with her until the room was empty. She turned to him as soon as the door was closed.

"Did you see Chakwas?" He asked reaching out and rubbing his hands up and down her arms. His eyes moved over her face. She seemed well rested, the circles under her eyes less prominent and the stress in her brow eased. Her eyes themselves, however, still held a deep grief and he knew only time would dim.

She nodded. "Yes. She said I'm good to go." She surprised him when she stood on her toes and pressed her lips to his. He didn't hesitate to return the kiss as he wrapped his arms around her waist and she angled her head to kiss him deeper. Her arms slid around his shoulders as her mouth worked against his. After a moment, she ended the kiss, her forehead pressed to his. "Thank you for yesterday." He nodded and kissed her again, a light touch of his lips to hers as she lowered herself from her toes. His hands moved to take hers. "Will you do me a favor?"

"Anything."

"Kiss me every morning, before we leave our room. I don't want to ever go through a day wondering if we'd taken that one moment for ourselves."

"Well, that's an easy promise to make," he grinned and she chuckled softly. He knew, by the look in her eyes, that the request came from the realization that Anderson and Kahlee had no more mornings. He wondered how long it had been since Anderson had held Kahlee in his arms, and he knew each missed moment was something Anderson would regret. Making Sloan this promise was easy.

"Thank you," she smiled and pulled from his embrace. "Time to go be one with the geth…."

"You're sure about this?" Kaidan asked as they stepped onto the elevator to take them down to the cargo bay and their gear.

She leaned back against the wall. "Not really. I've been…. I'm not sure how to describe it. When we shut down Project Overlord, I was briefly hooked into the system. It was disorienting, and I have a feeling that if something had happened to the system, something would have happened to me. That's why I want you and Garrus there with me. If something starts to go wrong, the two of you are the most capable to notice and stop it."

"Tali's a better engineer than Garrus and I combined."

"Tali wants Rannoch back. She's desperate, for her world, and her people. Desperate people make sacrifices they wouldn't normally make," she explained and Kaidan nodded. He wanted to disagree, but he couldn't. He let out a deep breath, hating every second of this war and wishing more than anything that they were already on the other side of it. The elevator door opened and they moved to their lockers. Kaidan glanced and found Garrus and Tali huddled together in the corner. He bit back a smile before his gaze moved to James who was prepping their weapons.

They pulled on their gear quickly, with practiced efficiency. They took their time with their armor checks. Kaidan had a feeling she was taking as much pleasure in insuring his safety as he did hers. They somehow managed to keep the moment professional. Before they knew it they were on the shuttle with Cortez, making their way towards Rannoch, and the site of the Reaper signal. Kaidan couldn't shake his worry.

Legion dropped from the shuttle mid flight, promising to clear the way for them. It was still strange to Kaidan, to work so closely with the geth. He couldn't help but wonder what Ashley would think. They reached the DZ and left the vehicle, Kaidan and Garrus flanking Shepard as Cortez took the shuttle to a safe landing space.

Kaidan allowed himself a moment to look around at Rannoch. The sky, a dark purple which brightened to blues, oranges, and pinks when the light of their sun hit it. Red dirt and rock formations littered the area. It was breathtaking, and part of Kaidan felt guilty for not bringing Tali with them, for not allowing her to set foot on the homeworld. If things went well today, she'd be here by sundown.

The signal was coming from a site built into the side of a mountain. They followed the path inside and it took Kaidan a moment for his eyes to adjust to the change in lighting. The warm yellows and oranges of the sun changed to the bright blue synthetic glow that surrounded them as they followed the marker on their 'tools. All of the geth they encountered were offline. Their synthetic bodies slumped against the walls or lying in awkward positions on the floor as if they turned off in the middle of their day. Kaidan supposed they did.

They spotted Legion just ahead of them. It was easy to distinguish by the pieces of N7 armor it wore. Kaidan still thought it was creepy. They reached the geth, and he explained, again, that due to limited resources it would be best that she connects alone. She met Kaidan's eyes briefly. "Let's do it." Legion ordered her to proceed to the docking station. There were pods lined up along an elevated platform. They were not unlike what Kaidan had seen on Horizon, though this was mechanical, not organic. Still, it made his stomach churn when she went to step into it. He took her hand as she did, and her eyes met his when he squeezed her fingers.

"I'll be monitoring your vitals. If there's any concern, I'll get you out," he promised her, and she forced a small smile, though it came no where near her eyes. Kaidan paid little attention to Legion as he hooked her into the system; he counted on Garrus for that. She met and held his eyes. He hated the fear he saw there. She hated this, and he wished they could have found some other way to get this done. He sighed when her eyes closed, signaling her connection to the server.

Kaidan opened his 'tool and linked into her suit systems monitoring her vitals and brain waves. Everything was normal now, baseline. He let his eyes move to her face within the pod. Her eyes closed, flickering behind her lids. Her lips slightly parted and her breath misting on the glass before her face. She looked beautiful. It was an out of place thought in the middle of the mission, in the middle of the war, but that didn't make it less true.

Garrus clicked to his right and Kaidan glanced at him quickly before turning his eyes back to the 'tool. Garrus allowed himself to sit on the steps to Kaidan's left as they waited. "You're starting to smell again, Alenko." His two-toned voice vibrated low and Kaidan chuckled. He was no longer embarrassed by the alien's talk of pheromones.

"I'm not even thinking about sex," he argued, slightly frustrated by his own body's betrayal. Could everyone tell when he was thinking about her?

"Maybe not, but it's not always about sex. It's about attraction and want," Garrus explained and Kaidan shrugged, his eyes moved over Shepard's face again. Well, that was fair. "You really can't smell it?" The Turian sounded surprised, and Kaidan shook his head. "Then how do you… I mean," he sighed and his mandibles twitched.

"Garrus?"

The Turian's undertones rolled as he glared at him. "How can you tell she's interested if you can't?"

"By now I think it's pretty clear," Kaidan paused as Garrus's mandibles fluttered and his eyes closed. He cocked his head at the Turian. "This isn't really about Sloan and me, is it?" Kaidan asked, and Garrus practically sneered at him. It was clear the Turian was embarrassed to talk about this, but he had asked. Kaidan sighed, his eyes moving to Shepard's face again. "It was difficult with Sloan, especially in the beginning. We had to, well, I tried to pretend there was nothing there because of the regulations, but I wasn't really able to hide it. Without even thinking about it, we would search each other out at the end of the day, whether it was for a meal or a conversation. Sloan also, she bites her lip, and she picks at her nails when she's nervous. She did that a lot when we were together," Kaidan couldn't help but smile as he thought back to their stolen moments on the SR1. "Is this about Tali?"

Garrus spluttered and his mandibles twitched. Kaidan laughed at his friend. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, you're anxious to see her, nervous when she's around, you just choked when I mentioned her name, and you're asking about being able to smell pheromones. I'm guessing it's her suit that's stopping you?" Kaidan accused as he stepped back from the pod and leaned on the wall behind him.

"Yeah, and I have no idea what I'm doing." Garrus's admission was quiet, and he sounded ashamed as he looked down at his hands twisting together.

Kaidan shook his head. "This coming from the Turian who pushed me to go to my CO's quarters before Ilos?" It was Garrus's turn to laugh softly.

"Well, I could sme-"

"Smell her," Kaidan interrupted him through a chuckle. "Yeah, have I told you how disturbing that is?"

Garrus ignored his comment and continued, "I figure you owe me."

Kaidan eyed his friend for a moment. He had to admit that was nice: calling him a friend again. He had missed Garrus while Shepard was gone and even more so since they had returned to the Normandy. This teasing and banter was a welcome reminder of the friendship they had once shared, and the fact that it was on the mend. "Well, if it makes you feel more confident I definitely think she feels the same."

"But how can you tell?"

Kaidan let out a rough sigh, his eyes moved over to Sloan's face again – still peaceful. "It has a lot to do with … not what she says, but how she says it. When you mentioned the chocolates from Dr. Michel, Tali said she would only eat them after they were sterilized. Maybe just because she's Quarian, but maybe also because they came from another woman." Garrus seemed to consider that and Kaidan continued, thinking of the few times they saw them together over the last day or two. "You mentioned she never usually goes a long time without replying to a message from you, that's always a good sign. Also, Quarians rely heavily on body language. When you're together, she's always turned towards you. She touches you. She leans in when she speaks. All very good signs."

Kaidan turned his head and met the Turian's eyes. Garrus mulled over Kaidan's observations, but his response was interrupted when Admiral Raan reached out over the comm. She was asking for Shepard, but Kaidan responded that she was indisposed. "The geth fighters are arriving, but something is wrong. Not all are functioning properly." Kaidan and Garrus exchanged a glance and looked to Sloan's face, still calm. They had no way of knowing how much longer it would be. They could only hope Sloan would finish before the geth attacked.

The contact from Raan brought a tension to the pair and Kaidan sighed, shifting from foot to foot. "So," Garrus asked after a long moment, "body language, huh?"

Kaidan laughed, loud and from the belly, the kind of laugh he had only experienced a handful of times in recent memory. Garrus joined in, his flanging chuckle pleasant. "Yeah, you could probably talk to EDI. I'm sure she'd help you get some information. Chakwas may have some advice as well, for, you know, antibiotics." Kaidan glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and chewed his lip to stop another laugh. Garrus's mandibles seemed tense, and his eyes were narrowed and glaring. Kaidan distracted himself by running another scan over Shepard's form. How much longer would this take?

"Yeah, I don't really see myself asking anyone else about this," Garrus admitted with a rumbling chuckle. Kaidan grinned, but said nothing. He just kept his eyes on the program on his 'tool.

"Seriously, though, don't wait. Even if she's not interested, which she is, we may not have a lot of time left. Don't waste it." Kaidan was speaking from his own concerns, concerns he'd never share with Shepard. He needed her to have faith, but he knew the reality of war. He knew their chances.

"Something is happening to the geth," Admiral Raan's voice rang out over their comms again, startling both of them and distracting Kaidan from his morbid thoughts. "All of the squadrons have stopped, there is no more activity inside their ships. You've … You saved the liveships, thank you."

Legion's platform rose. The geth's attention moved from Kaidan to Shepard. Kaidan could feel his heart in his throat and choked on the bitter panic at the back of his tongue. "Why isn't she up, yet?" He knew he sounded frantic and worried, but the geth had no response. It just silently logged into a nearby terminal. It wasn't until Shepard's eyes fluttered open and found his that his heart returned to normal.

The pod opened, and she reached for his hands. He took them and supported her as she stepped down. "Are you okay?" Kaidan asked at the same moment she inquired if it worked. Kaidan grinned with the realization that she was fine.

"Geth fighters have been disabled. Any remaining squadrons attacking the liveships have withdrawn. The server is offline," Legion answered simply, sounding distracted as he continued to click away at the terminal. Shepard nodded and Kaidan took a step back to stand with Garrus.

Before anyone could speak, the inactive geth around them suddenly activated. Standing and turning towards their group. Shepard, Kaidan, and Garrus drew their weapons and readied them. "What the fuck is this, Legion?"

"We have transferred geth programs into these platforms. They wish to join us. Shepard-Commander, while you removed the reaper infection, we were able to persuade the hostile geth programs to reunite with ours. They have renounced the Old Machines, and will help us fight the Reapers. They are us now." Kaidan glanced at Shepard as she lowered her weapon. Garrus followed with Kaidan stowing his pistol a beat later.

He explained that it had been self preservation that made the geth accept the Reaper assistance. If the Quarians hadn't attacked, they never would have aligned with the Reapers. It was an unending cycle, one that Shepard seemed determined to break. "Fine." Shepard sighed, she looked at Kaidan's eyes, then turned to Garrus. "Let's go get Rannoch back."