The makeshift medical station Garrus and Admiral Anderson dropped Liara off is nothing more than a collection of cots with tarps providing shading from the artificial sky. There are a few asari volunteers donating their blood. They look so tired. Drained of their lifeforce. Dozens of injured asari, coming in varieties of blue hues liine rows of patients. Liara is easy to spot from the rest of the asari as her "pureblood" features differentiate her from the rest of her kind. Her bonded moves a metal crate to use as a seat. Shepard rubs his thumb gently along her wavy crests. Her eyes flutter. Shepard retracts his hand. Liara slowly opens her eyes, taking account of the new surroundings. Liara tries to sit up, but Shepard pushed her back down. She turns her head left and right, seeing her sisters in conditions similar or worst to her own.

Liara asks "What happened?"

Shepard crying tears of joy "We won. The Reapers are returning to dark space. You were injured on the head, but you are going to be fine."

Liara reaches up, touching her bandage wound on her forehead. "Owch. That's going to leave a deep scar."

Shepard replies "scars are hot."

Liara notices Tali and I off in the distance. She turns her head to Shepard, not saying a word. The imperceptible conversation through their eyes at play. Shepard takes a break from their lovers eyegazing to wave at us to come over. Tali occupies the bedside opposite of our Commander. She gently hugs her blue alien friend, being careful as to not allow physical contact of her visor to Liara's wound. The best purple colored nurse in the whole galaxy says to her patient "Everything is going to be okay now."

Liara takes hold of Tali's forearm; it takes much of her vigor to only move her arm a foot. Despite how much blood loss she had from her brain, her curiosity is untouched "What made the Reapers leave? What did the crucible do? Will they return?" and several more questions until Shepard ordered her to rest.

Liara follows her beloved Commander without question "Ok but at least tell my family I'm ok. If they are alive, I really want to see my mother's mate and my sisters."

Shepard informs her "Already have and they are all on their way."

Liara smiles, resting her head deep into her pillow made from a folded towel "That's good. Did we lose anyone?"

I tell Liara "Only the illusive man and who really cares?"

Liara laughs turn into aches of pain. Ok no jokes for her for a while. Laughter may be the best medicine but not for this case. While I am so funny I can cause a migraine, this is neither the time nor the place. I'll save that for the best man speech.

Shepard tells Liara "Good news. My mom is at the Citadel. My two favorite women are going to finally meet."

Liara sarcastically remarks "so it takes nearly destroying the galaxy to finally bring us together."

Shepard again caresses her forehead crests, Liara mmmms in delight. A few more strokes and Liara is out like a light. Shepard continues. Tali and I can feel the radiating love from them. While their auras are a different set compared to Tali and I, the love is the same. A beautiful wholesome green in the air between them. Shepard tells us "It's ok for you to go."

Tali asks "are you sure?"

Shepard nods "Once Liara is out nothing will wake her. Besides you have your people to think of. What happened to your dad and aunt?"

Tali says "they are alive. The fleet took some heavy hits, but most of the fleet survived. We are going home."

Shepard tells Tali "Do whatever you need to do. Come back to the apartment whenever you can."

Tali replies "I will. I have so much to do. The admirals are going to want to set up colonies on Rannoch as soon as they can, but they'll have to make agreements with whatever local governments there are, and the geth. We have no idea how to build on a planet though."

I remember one of the many affordable housing strategies I suggested which no one ever listened to "It's a good idea to build structures made of stone as they can last hundreds of years and retain the heat well. I bet Wrex would make a trade deal with your people. Their labor and raw resources in exchange for finished goods. They have plenty to spare. Everything grows incredibly fast there."

Tali says "I'll forward the offer along."

I ask my sweetheart "will you be ok if I stepped out for a bit? There's something I need to do."

Tali replies "umm sure. Is everything alright?"

I tell her "yeah but I have to do this. I'll send you a message of when and where to meet."

Tali's anxiety is flaring back up, she twists her own fingers, "promise me you'll meet me there."

I hold Tali's head, kissing her mouthpiece. I pull back and look her straight in those angelic ovals 'I will. I promise. It won't take long."

Every inch of my skin is coated in the tranquil saltwater of the great barrier reef. It's beauty has been restored. Corals of all color and patterns provide homes to oceanic fish. The bleaching of my world did not kill one of nature's greatest treasures here. I could stay here for hours watching the fish go by. I'm slightly out of phase. The lack of air is not an issue, and the scuba divers cannot see me. I exist as an observer only. The cool waters are soothing to my nerves. I've been meditating here for the past hour and a half. Originally it was supposed to be thirty minutes, but I've been procrastinating. I'm so nervous. Whatever I tried to calm myself down isn't working. Slowing down my breathing, grounding to mother earth, sipping tea. Nothing helps. I can't put this off forever. It's time for me to leave.

I message Tali to meet me near Chora's den. I'm not there, the place has been abandoned for a long time, but Tali will have no problem finding me. I wait and wait and wait. My food tapping the floor nearly as fast as my heartbeat. If this goes on for much longer, I'll be sweating like a varren. I set up a secret camera behind a crate and patiently wait. I have no idea how far the apartment is to the rundown club. I feel like Tali will appear any second. Seconds feel like minutes and minutes to days. Then, the love of my life finally arrives. Tali steps down from the stairs.

She asks "why did you want to meet at this place?"

I gesture to come closer. I want this to look good on film.

My eyes darted around the space "Remember this?"

Tali answers "Yeah. This is the alley we first met."

"And where you shot me."

Tali gets frustrated "for the last time I didn't shoot you."

I tell her "you shot me with one of cupid's arrows!"

Tali says "Oh... that's what you meant. Yeah, I did. I saw how cute you were and had to have you. Worked like a charm."

I continue "I would have liked somewhere more romantic, but this place is special. I remember first seeing you over there, behind some crates, shooting at Saren's goons."

Tali adds "And I was scared out of my mind, until you came from nowhere and rescued me."

I say "You were strong and beautiful. It took so much will hiding it from you."

Tali says "I knew you liked me from the beginning."

Pretending to be shocked, damn my amateur poker face "You did? How?"

Tali cutely tilts her head while shrugging her shoulders "A girl can tell. For the longest time I was confused why you never made a move. You didn't seem the insecure type. I chalked it up to being on my pilgrimage and the relationship would be doomed to fail. Look where we are now."

I tell her "These past few years have been the happiest of my life."

Tali steps closer "Mine too."

I pull my dear closer "And I want to keep this. I have something for you."

Tali slightly leans her head back "Is everything alright? You're acting differently. It's almost like you're nervous. What is going on?"

I explain "The war is over. We won. I don't know how things will play out now."

Tali says "That's how we felt the whole time. Welcome to the club. How do you feel now?"

I confess "Scared out of my freaking mind!"

Tali asks "Why? The future can't be that scary. The hard part is over."

I respond "It will be in a moment. Now, normally when I finish what I came here to do, I don't stick around for long, an infinite multiverse has so much to see, but this universe has you and only you. The beautiful quarian woman who captured my heart like no one else. You are the perfect woman for me in every little way and I know I won't find anyone else like you out there. Tali, you not only made me so ludicrously happy, you've made me feel things I never experienced before. I love you so so much. I feel I can be free with you, allowed to be my true self and I want to love you every day, unrestrained. Ok here goes, fuck this is overwhelming, I'm not sure which way you want this to happen, so I am going to do both. First..." I pull out her mother's betrothal necklace.

Tali's eyes are pulled by her family heirloom "That's my mom's. How did you get that?"

I answer, "Rael gave it to me before we left the fleet."

Tali asks "He did? ANCESTORS! *********!?"

That's the reaction I was hoping for "Yep. But Rann says you adore human romance movies. I also made you this" A pull out a ring box. Tali and I used to window shop on our very first dates. I'd pay careful attention to which rings she liked and pick out the features I think she loved and compiled them all here. I am preparing to get down on one knee. Tali's reaction halts me in my place.

Tali uses her two hands to grab my wrists "No you don't need to do that. Yes! Yes! I'll marry you!"

"Oh thank heavens!" The tsunami of energies pressuring my enter system powers the generators to produce the most intense sensation that blows any form of ecstasy or bliss out of the water. My arms move on their own and lasso Tali into my chest. My heart feels like it is going to explode, and I want it to for Tali to see how much I love her. My lovely quarian casts off her visor, she kisses me with a pressure that can turn charcoal into diamonds. I lose track where my lips are and where hers begin. This moment is the best moment of my life, while more potent than any love drug, Tali breaks the kiss and asks one simple request. As she puts on her betrothal necklace, my dear says...

"In your culture I know there's a ceremony, which I definitely need, but in my culture, we're now bonded for life. That word I said I wanted you to call me. It's wife. From now on I need you to call me your wife."

I remind her "That's supposed to be after we are married."

Tali loses control of her legs "I can't wait that long. Call me your wife. Now! Please my cherished human! Please."

My heart surrenders. It will be the first of many "You're already the best wife ever and I can't wait to spend every second with you."

Tali squeals, morphing her lips to mine, a zap in my chest is felt. Tali formed a soul tie with me. She doesn't even know what that is but her love for me is so strong, it formed anyway. Her literal love is in my heart. We are truly bonded. There is no shred of doubt that we are going to have a long happy life together. I'll do whatever I have to keep her happy. If we go to the farmers market and there's something she likes, I'll return for it and hide it in the house and give it to her when she is having a bad day. I'll cook every meal for her. Whatever happens, I'm going to love every moment we have together.