Tali's lips closed around her meal, and she swallowed. A small bulge traveled down her neck and into her stomach.

"You know… I think I'm finally starting to get used to you just gulping down your food." Shepard commented from off to her left. They were both sitting on the couch watching the news and eating dinner. Or rather, Shepard was eating dinner. Tali had just finished hers.

The satisfied Quarian gave her full belly a couple of pats in the same fashion she had seen James do once and leaned back into the couch's leather cushions. Her two lower jaws reconnect back into a singular one with a soft, wet click. "I still don't know exactly what you needed to get used to. It isn't that weird. I mean, it's not like you chew water, do you?"

"Well, no, but you've got to admit seeing someone swallow the dextro version of a Thanksgiving turkey whole is a bit disconcerting," Shepard responded a small smile on his face.

Tali punched her boyfriend's arm. "It was a Cipritini Chicken that's nowhere near the size of a Turkey."

"It was still a pretty big bird, sweetheart."

Tali rolled her eyes at the comment. It had been four months since she had her first solid meal, and ever since then she had never looked back. She had started packaging cut-up Dextro meat, vegetables, fruits, and noodles into her nutrient paste tubes instead of the traditional slurry. These made up her breakfasts and lunches. Something that she could eat quickly and easily on her way too and during her job. At night, however, she and her boyfriend cooked her a regular meal. Over these past several months, her body had acclimated to the apartment's environment after having spent so much time out of her suit in the small living space. As such, they no longer needed to sterilize the place every time she needed to cook or eat a meal.

The effects of her new diet were plainly evident on her body in other ways as well. As Tali got up from her seat, she could feel her suit get pulled slightly tighter over her more voluptuous form. Due to rationing on the Flotilla, every Quarian was kept just underweight. Of course, now that Tali was now no longer relying on algae-grown nutrient paste she no longer had that problem. The diet of meat, fruits, and vegetables had helped bump her up to a much more healthy BMI for her kind.

The now curvier Quarian put a bit of extra sway in her hips just in case Shepard was looking as she made her way into the kitchen. However, when Tali placed her dishes in the sink and turned back around to face her human, she found that he was focused on something else. Something not at all enjoyable.

"-After nearly four months of complete diplomatic silence from the Hegemony, the Council has moved to dismiss the request by the Batarian Ambassador to try Shepard in intergalactic court. The motion was proposed by Councilor David Anderson and has been met with massive backlash from the Alliance Parliament. Minister Derek Johnson has called for his resignation in the face of what he calls blatant favoritism.-

Shepard's gaze was fixed firmly on the news anchor as he spoke, his own meal forgotten. About half a minute after the news went to commercial, Shepard finally spoke. "He's going to do it you know…"

"Going to do what?" Tali asked, crossing the length of the kitchen and returning to the nearby living room. She leaned against the back of the couch and gently wrapped her arms around her boyfriend's neck.

"Resign. We… and by we I mean Hackett, Anderson, and I all agreed that it would be best if he were here to help prepare the Alliance for what's coming…" Shepard didn't need to explain further. Those who had been with him knew what threat the galaxy was about to face.

"It won't be long now. I'm guessing that the reason why the Batarians are so quiet is because the Reapers targeted their comm buoys in their first strikes." Tali whispered quietly.

"It's likely more than just that. I imagine that there isn't much of a Hegemony left. Vigil said that the Reapers always targeted the center of galactic governance during each harvest. In all likelihood, they decapitated the Hegemony's government by targeting Karshann first." He clasped his hands together and leaned forward. "The Batarian military is governed from the top down with not a lot of room for independent decision-making by the squad leaders on the ground. During the Blitz, we would always target the Command bunkers of any given sector to throw enemy units into chaos. And that's exactly what the Reapers have done on a massive scale in the Kite's Nest. Everything happening now is more than likely just mop up."

Tali felt a chill run up her back as she remembered the conversation with the Prothean VI. "The Genocide of a species is a long, slow process…" And thats exactly what was happening now. The Batarians were dying a drawn-out death so that Shepard and Alliance high command could prepare as much as they could for the oncoming storm.

"Keelah… its hard to imagine that that's what will be happening to us. Don't you humans have a word for this?" Tali asked as she hugged Shepard slightly tighter.

"The apocalypse?"

"I was thinking Hell, personally. But what's the difference at this point?"

"The difference is that we can still win."

Shepard shrugged off her arms and turned around to face her. His eyes were like blue steel as they stared straight through her mask and directly into her soul. "The Protheans gave us an advantage that no one else has had before. We've been able to keep hold of the Citadel and denied the Reapers control of the Mass Relay Network. They may have a technological advantage, but we are going into this war in a better position than any previous civilization. Besides, the Batarian government probably denied and tried to cover up the threat until the Reapers were on Karshan's doorstep. The Council may be willfully ignorant of the evidence we've already shown them, but once planets start falling, they're going to act. And when they do, we'll be ready."

Had Shepard been speaking to anyone else they would have believed him. The Commander hadn't earned his reputation as a leader for nothing. He had this way of bringing out a never-before-seen fighting spirit in his comrades by displaying that very same spirit himself. However, Tali wasn't anyone else. Only she, Garrus, and maybe Liara would be able to see the truth behind those steel-blue eyes. The truth was…

"You're scared too, aren't you," Tali murmured softly. Shepard opened his mouth to respond to the comment but no sound came out. Instead he turned his head toward the nearby window. Beyond, the city of Vancouver was shrouded in darkness as night fell. The sun had just finished moving over the edge of the horizon and the moon had yet to rise. All the light there was were the lights of civilization around them. But those very same lights would be snuffed out before too long.

"Of course I'm scared." He whispered. "I've been fighting since Eden Prime to get people to open their eyes to what's coming, and I've failed. No one's prepared, and we're going into a war to decide the fate of every species in the galaxy. I sacrificed three hungred thousand people to buy us more time, and all that did was turn me into a mass murderer and a war criminal."

"You are not a murderer," Tali said emphatically as she gripped his chin and forced him to meet her gaze. "You tried to warn them. You tried to help them. They didn't listen. You gave them two days to evacuate before you activated the Project. It isn't your fault."

Of course, only Shepard would have had enough willpower to stay conscious after being hit with an energy wave generated by Reaper technology and fight off a horde of indoctrinated mercenaries. Still, even after all of that, the Batarians refused to listen to Shepard's warning to evacuate. Tali moved around to the front of the couch and sat down next to her boyfriend. They both simply leaned into each other's embrace, neither saying anything else for a long time.

The Quarian's tongue flicked out of her mouth every now and again to taste the air. To think that right when she was getting to experience the world outside her envirosuit that same world was about to come to an end. She still had her mask off from dinner. Most days now, she didn't put it back on until she left the apartment in the mornings for work or if they were having someone else over for a visit. She was finally getting to experience what life could be like for her people. She had finally found love. And finally, the Reapers were here.

Well, not yet.

Tonight, they were here. Tonight, they were together.

Tali stood up and pulled Shepard to his feet as she did so. With a sparkle in her silver eyes she pulled him into their shared bedroom.

Then, for that one night, there was no more anxiety about what the coming war would bring. No more dread of the Reapers' return. No more sorrow over the home that she had lost. No more fear for the future, nor sadness of the past.

Instead, there was light. There was life. And there was love. And there was him. And there was her. And each time they were together, their love climaxed. Then when their eyes were clear of the starbursts they were filled with they saw each other again. He saw her. She saw him. And then there was love again.

Inside their home, there was love.

Outside, their home, on Earth, in the Sol System, in the Local Cluster, in the Milky Way it was getting dark…