Shepard was sitting at his desk, running through his e-mails at his terminal aboard the Normandy SR-2 when EDI came up on his screen.

"Shepard, crewmember Tali'Zora is requesting to come up."

"Tali? Send her up."

The Normandy crew had just reached its full strength the last three members of its crew, Tali being the last though certainly not the least. Shepard didn't want to recruit her last, but she has been on the far side of the galaxy, while Thane and Samara were both on Ilium. He was glad she wanted to see him, as they didn't have much chance to talk last time they met.

"Hey Shepard."

Shepard turned and saw Tali standing next to his desk.

"Tali. Pull up a chair. Why'd you want to see me?"

She nodded and sat down politely, almost formally.

"I just wanted to talk. It's not like we've had much conversation these past two years."

Shepard chuckled. "I guess not."

"Are those model ships?"

Shepard turned to the glass pane above his terminal and smirked.

"Yeah. I noticed that Cerberus had a model of the SR-2 laying in the office, and I've run into some nice ones while getting supplies, so I thought I'd get more and start collecting."

Tali laughed a bit. "Well, at least you found a hobby to keep your mind off the suicide mission." She glanced around the cabin, taking in the architecture. "Say what you want about Cerberus, but they know how to build a ship. I thought the drive core on the Normandy SR-1 was advanced, but what we have down in engineering is more advanced than anything I thought a ship could have. And this office suite isn't bad either. Definitely an improvement from your last one."

Shepard chuckled. "Wasn't too hard to make myself comfortable. But this Normandy doesn't have the memories of the last one."

"That's true I suppose. But… speaking of Cerberus…"

Tali leaned forward. "I need you to be completely honest with me Shepard. I need to trust you. I need to know what happened."

Shepard frowned. She didn't trust him? After everything? After Saren?

"I'm an open book for whatever you want to know, Tali. But I thought you already trusted me. You did tell Jacob that you were here for me, not Cerberus."

"And I am, Shepard. I want to trust you. It's just…"

She stood up and faced the fish tank, watching the fish swim for a while, her fingers twitching nervously against the glass. He could see her reflection—the tension in her posture, the uncertainty in her shoulders. Shepard walked up and stood next to her.

"You were gone for two years, Shepard. You were dead for two whole years! I thought I had lost you for good. Things weren't the same without, and not just the crew. We needed you to hold us together. I needed you. I had friends back in the fleet, sure but no one had your kindness. Your empathy was what gave the confidence to complete my pilgrimage and start making something of myself. My own place in the universe."

She finally turned to him.

"And now… after two years, you come out of nowhere. Working with Cerberus. I need to know what they did, Shepard. What happened?"

Shepard paused, rubbing his temple as if the memories of his reconstruction were heavy on his mind. He looked at her for a while, and he was searching her as much as she was searching for him. She needed to hear what happened. Tali wasn't the same person she was two years ago. True, not much had changed but she was more confident in herself and less naïve if nothing else. Not that Shepard had taken advantage of that last time they worked together, but this time, her loyalty was separate from obeying orders. It would have to be earned.

"Two years of my life… gone. When I woke up, it felt like no time had passed at all. But everything had changed. After I was spaced, Cerberus managed to get a hold of my body. Miranda, my assigned XO, was head of what they called the Lazarus Project. You met her back on Freedom's Progress."

Shepard walked over to his terminal and pulled up all files of the project to show Tali.

"Two years and over four billion credits went into the project. To me. Hyper advanced synthetic tech and bonding parts fixed my body. Bio-synthetic fission. They used anything they could to improve my physical performance. As for my brain, that took a little more care. Various stimulates were injected directly into my brain to kick start it back into activation, even an implant or two, including some biotic prototypes. They've taken some practice… They seem to react to my emotions if I lose control of them."

He clenched his fist and it glowed blue. Tali looked at the terminal, then back to Shepard.

"But you weren't a biotic before. Implants, no matter how advanced can change that in anyone. Unless you're telling me that Cerberus has found a way to turn humans into biotics at will?"

Shepard's mind drifted to Pragia, and Jack's childhood. The horrors inflicted on children for that very purpose.

"No, you're right. When the ship exploded, so did the drive core, obviously. I was exposed to massive amounts of eezo, enough to give me biotic potential. Since I died shortly after, the side effects, good or bad, didn't have time to form. Because Cerberus had to reactivate my dead cells, they enhanced the eezo nodules in me as well. Throw in some L5n implants and I have biotics to match the average Asari."

"And you trust this? They re-built you from the ground up. How are you sure that they didn't add more implants to control you? Making you turn to their side?"

Shepard leaned over and pulled up a report on the project he had downloaded while on the station. Miranda popped up on the screen, explaining what the Lazarus Project was about.

"Physical reconstruction of subject is complete, but we still need to evaluate all mental and neurological functions. Our orders are clear; make Commander Shepard who he was before the explosion. The same mind, the same morals, the same personality. If we alter his personality in anyway, if he's somehow not the same man he used to be, the Lazarus Project will have failed. I refuse to let that happen."

Tali watched the screen as the recording repeated itself.

"Are you sure that Cerberus didn't just make this up for your peace of mind?"

"They don't know I have this. I downloaded all of this while I escaped the station as it was blowing up."

Tali turned to Shepard.

"So, you're absolutely sure that they didn't do anything else to you?"

"It's me Tali. I might have a few new scars, but I'm the same person. And don't worry about Cerberus. I fully expect them to betray us at some point, and when this whole suicide mission with the collectors is over, I'll take that grenade. I'm sure Vakarian will help too."

Tali laughed at that. The same sense of humor. This was definitely the real Shepard alright.