Who Saves the Hero by Kudara

Chapter 2

Omega - Normandy, Captain's Cabin

Shepard looked over her selection of helmets considering which one to wear; they had just docked at Omega Station and from the information she had it was not a nice place. In fact it sounded like a hell hole. If the Illusive Man's information was correct, she would be trying to recruit three members of her future squad from here: a human mercenary, a turian vigilante, and a salarian doctor. Amanda grimaced, except for the doctor, she wasn't that whelmed with the choices. She would take all three however; it was simple math to know that she needed more of a team than just Miranda and Jacob to have the slightest chance of defeating the Collectors.

The Illusive Man had made it clear that as far as he was concerned her old team was unavailable, he claimed they had all moved on or changed allegiances. Though he did admit Tali'Zorah might be a possibility given her actions on Shepard's behalf after their meeting on Freedom's Promise. Garrus was nowhere to be found, and Wrex had gone back to Tuchanka to unite the krogan clans. Amanda found herself both pleased and touched that Wrex had decided to take up what she knew was a monumental task once again. The krogan Battlemaster had attempted it once before, but after his father, Jarrod, had betrayed him Wrex had left Tuchanka, disillusioned with his race and the way most would rather fight and kill than spend the time needed to rebuild their society. It was a decision she had repeatedly urged him to re-consider. After they had reclaimed his family armor from Tonn Actus, Wrex had agreed to think about it; obviously after her death he had decided to try once again.

Shepard was pleased, Wrex had taught her a lot about krogans, and over the course of their tracking down Saren they had become good friends. There had been a number of nights when she had snuck out with Garrus and Wrex and went drinking away from the rest of the crew. Amanda found she could let herself be more than just the Commander with them; she could just be a fellow warrior seeking a moment of relaxation away from the battlefield with them. They had never let on what happened those nights and she never heard any of what was said come back to her, just proving that she had been right about her choice of drinking buddies. She hadn't been any less close to Tali; it was just that one didn't take a young quarian barely out of her teens with you to drink with your buddies. One didn't take a sheltered young asari researcher for whom you had certain interests in and talk about the hell you raised several years earlier either. After she and Liara became lovers, she had often chosen some alone time for them over going out and drinking. She wasn't stupid after all, and Garrus and Wrex had certainly understood.

As for Garrus's reported disappearance, Shepard didn't know what to think about that. She certainly didn't put it past the Cerberus leader to engage in a bit if misdirection or outright lying to make sure she didn't go searching for the turian when he didn't think Garrus should be on the team. She would have to keep an ear out, maybe she would hear something or maybe Garrus would search for her himself once he heard news of her reappearance.

Shepard had slipped in her question about Liara between asking about Wrex and Garrus, not wanting to single her lover out over the rest. His answer that she was working as an information broker for the Shadow Broker was enough to make Shepard question the accuracy of his intel. Not that she thought Liara wasn't capable of it, after all most of what the young asari had done for her entire life up until getting involved with Shepard was piecing together sparse fragments of information and seeing a complex whole that others could not.

The asari maiden had been rather surprised at the way information about the protheans had just fallen into their hands during their race to stop Saren, but the fact was the asari archeologist had already figured out the 50,000 year extinction cycle of the Reapers and that the Protheans had been only the most recent galactic civilization to be wiped out. She had also figured out that the mass relays and Citadel were most likely not created by the Protheans, but by an even older race. No, Shepard could see Liara excelling at collecting and analyzing data no matter what it was, the only question in her mind was why the change away from academia? And why with the Shadow Broker? Shepard couldn't care less what the Illusive Man thought of that or whether it was a threat to him or not, but the information, if true, concerned her deeply. What had happened to Liara in the two years since her death?

Not that she could even seek out Liara to ask, the ship's navigational computer held very little data as yet, and tellingly, Illium, where the Illusive Man had said Liara was located, was not one of the places they could use the mass relay system to jump to yet. Shepard wished she had thought to pick up navigational charts while at the Citadel, but after her chilly reception there she had been too upset to think about it and she had left immediately after meeting with Anderson and the Council. With any luck she could correct that mistake here. She didn't care what the Illusive Man thought, or how he tried to keep her away from Illium, she would find a way there.

The asari's picture in her quarters was a pretty clear indicator that Cerberus knew or at least suspected that they were in a relationship. She could think of several reasons why they might not want her to have that type of support; it might certainly make it more difficult to manipulate her into believing they were the only ones who would believe in her. The more she thought about it the more she was sure that the Illusive Man was somehow behind the cold reception she had gotten from Councilor Anderson and the Council. She had no idea what lies he had spread about her involvement with Cerberus, but she didn't think the truth, that she had been a corpse unable to disagree with what they were doing to her, figured much into it.

Shepard shook her head, now wasn't the time to be thinking about this, Miranda and Jacob were undoubtedly waiting for her at the airlock and wondering what was taking so long. She grabbed her standard N7 helmet, the same one she had worn on the Citadel. The one which hid most of her face, and most importantly the slowly healing skin, that still didn't quite hide the faint orange glow of the synthetic tissue underneath. It was a sight that still left her deeply unsettled, and in the depths of her soul she wondered how much she was still the same person. Wondered if she could be the same person after dying and then being brought back to life, such as it was.

Normandy - Deck Three, Mess Area

'Please let him live, I don't want to lose him. I know it's selfish to want him to stay, but...I don't want to lose my friend.' The words, mixed entreaty, mixed prayer, chased each other around in Amanda's mind as she fought to keep from getting up out of her chair and pacing back and forth like a caged animal in front of the medical bay. She knew she was making the crew nervous as it was, sitting in one of the galley chairs, silently waiting, staring at the shuttered windows behind which she knew Dr. Chakwas was fighting to save Garrus's life.

That gasping breath Garrus had made had made her flashback for a moment, the memory so very clear in her mind as if she were there. No, they weren't in space, and yes there was air to breath, but she knew the struggle with death and she was all too intimately familiar with the fact that will and determination were sometimes not enough to escape it once it came seeking you. She had known that long before her own death, had seen it as she watched the life dim and fade from her mother's eyes after the batarian raider had shot her.

Her omni-tool beeped quietly, catching her attention, it was a short, but very welcome message from Dr. Chakwas: I just finished Garrus's surgery. I won't know for certain for a few more hours, but I believe there is a very good chance he will recover completely.

Amanda closed her eyes, let out a breath that shook only slightly. Thank you, her soul whispered to the universe.

Omega Station - Afterlife

Given how the initial few minutes of their first meeting had went, Shepard hadn't expected that she and Aria T'Loak would have anything do with one another other than keep out of each other's way. Though she certainly didn't mind looking at the asari, Aria was beautiful and had an aura of power and control about her that Amanda wasn't above admitting that she found intriguing. And that was all she expected there would be between she and the asari, respectful avoidance and a remote appreciation of the asari's beauty and persona, which was why it came as somewhat of a surprise to Shepard when she found herself actually liking Aria and the subtle thrust and parry of their conversations with one another. That liking and what seemed to be the foundations of a tentative respect for one another was why, once she knew Garrus would be alright, she returned to Afterlife and handed over the data pad with the information that the mercenary organizations had been plotting to take out the asari after dealing with Archangel.

Shepard knew it would be plain foolishness to trust Aria, the woman was too self-serving for that, but something about the asari whispered to Shepard that there was more to Aria than the face the asari presented to the world. Something worth getting to know, and if she wasn't entirely delusional, it seemed as if the asari might actually like her in return. Of course, taking care of Aria's mercenary problem in the process of saving Garrus might have had something to do with the slight softening of the asari's attitude toward her. Shepard didn't want to tally the number of mercenaries that had died in the hours or so that she, Miranda and Jacob had fought alongside Garrus. She was happy to leave it at many...very many. She doubted there were enough Eclipse, Blue Suns or Blood Pack members left on Omega right now to give Aria any substantial trouble for at least the immediate future.

She liked Aria enough that when one of the asari's lackeys asked her to escort an old enemy she kept around as an example of what happened to those who crossed her to safety, she had frowned but agreed to do something about the situation. Whether or not that would be an action Aria would approve of was up in the air until she met this krogan. Shepard couldn't approve of keeping someone around as an example, as a trophy of their victory, especially a krogan to whom being dead would be preferable to being kept around to be displayed. It was more than a little disillusioning to know that Aria would do something like that.

As soon as she walked into the dimly lit room, and heard what the krogan in question was saying though, her sympathy towards him took a severe nose-dive. The old krogan was pacing back and forth in front of a turian and asari while offering his advice to them on how to deal with an enemy. Hearing him suggest that they murder someone's entire family just to make sure they came out mad and easier to kill didn't make her inclined to lift a finger to help the old krogan, no matter how much he complained about how Aria had left him alive only as a trophy and a warning. If it hadn't been for that, she might have offered to act as the old krogans krannt and taken out the Blood Pack members hunting him herself. It would have given Patriarch back some of his honor even if it wasn't exactly what Aria wanted. Wrex wouldn't have made that suggestion, he didn't believe in killing those not involved in the fight. His tale of his battle with Aleena and how the two of them had arranged to fight somewhere innocents would not be caught in the crossfire had made that clear to her. If the family came after him then certainly he would kill them, but he wouldn't attack them first just to get at his target.

"So you kept him around as a trophy," Shepard didn't bother to hide the note of censure in her tone.

Aria's head turned, the asari finally looking directly at her. Clear blue eyes narrowed on the Spectre, "I did...as a trophy and an example. Whenever someone thought about taking me on, I pointed them to Patriarch." She paused briefly before continuing, "Dignity is the one of the few commodities not available on Omega," Her tone was more serious than usual and Amanda suddenly wondered if Aria included herself in that statement. After all, Aria had made it quite clear that she and the asari with her had traded sex for loyalty to win over Patriarch's muscle. Most likely that was still one of the methods Aria still used to stay in power. Something of her thoughts must have showed, for Aria's eyes narrowed and she looked annoyed. "Did you need something else?" her voice held an edge.

Shepard received the message loud and clear, besides no fucking with Aria, there was to be no feeling sorry or anything like that for her either. Given the image of strength and power the asari cultivated that was not surprising to Shepard, and she knew it was time to let the subject drop before she alienated the woman. "No, nothing else," she turned to leave.

"You should find a nice young man to keep you warm Shepard, you look like you need to loosen up a little," Aria threw out the sly sounding comment before she took more than a few steps.

Shepard turned, eyebrow raised. She studied the asari for a moment, and then smirked, "Though I'll admit to learning to appreciate the aesthetic appeal of a nicely fit male body," stirred by her words, a few rather evocative images popped into her mind of certain encounters from several years ago. Her smirk deepened, and for just a brief moment her expression uncannily matched that of the watching asari. Her attention snapped back to the present and the asari who was watching her with keen and now slightly curious blue eyes. "I have always strongly preferred the feminine form over any male," Shepard continued, just as if she hadn't gotten noticeably distracted by her own thoughts for a second. "No matter what else, I know that particular fact hasn't changed. So I'll pass on that suggestion, but thanks for the thought."

Surprise briefly showed in Aria's eyes at her frankness and then the asari her tilted her head back and for the first time she laughed as if she actually meant it. "Try one of the dancers then," Aria suggested, "I'm sure there are several who would be happy to help you with your tension issues."

There wasn't really a response to that other than to smile, shake her head and leave.

Though it had been amusing for a moment, the comment only made Amanda miss Liara even more than before. Something she would have thought was impossible because the absence of the asari by her side was a constant aching void within her. She didn't want a casual encounter with one of the dancers. She wanted the asari that she loved, the quiet and shy scientist that in a battle was amazingly competent with both her weapon and biotics. One that, underneath the shyness and the social awkwardness, was just as strong willed as she. Liara, who thought she had died two years ago and would be rightfully upset with her for not getting in contact with her immediately. Liara, who would not be pleased to find out she was cooperating with Cerberus. The asari had been there for almost all of their run-ins with the pro-human group, and had seen the same things Shepard had seen. Would Liara accept that without the Council or Alliance's help Amanda couldn't figure out any other way to stop the Collectors from abducting more human colonies, much less stop the Collectors and stop whatever plan the Reapers had with the enigmatic race? That even being certain Cerberus had somehow manipulated all of this, this being her current situation where they were the only one's willing to help her, she was still willing to work with them if it meant saving thousands of human lives?

No wonder she couldn't condemn Aria, Shepard realized grimly. Both of them were willing to let themselves be used by those they had no respect or liking for if that's what was necessary to achieve their goals.

Normandy - Deck Two, Briefing Room

Shepard glanced over Dr. Chakwas' report as Jacob filled her in on Garrus's current condition. He didn't sound as certain of the Doctor's prognosis of a full recovery as Chakwas had in her brief note to her earlier. She glanced over at the dark skinned man who was standing opposite her with the briefing table between them, her brow creasing with concern. She wouldn't have gone on her errand if she'd thought the turian was still in any danger.

Before she could question Taylor, the Briefing room opened, surprising both of them. It was Garrus, "Shepard," the turian greeted her.

Jacob, who had been leaning against the center console, straightened with a surprised sounding chuckle, "Tough son of a bitch," he commented, sounding impressed, "didn't think he'd be up yet."

Shepard saw Garrus's eyes shift over to the man before returning to her, felt the smile stretching her lips. She didn't fight it; she wanted him to know how much she was glad that he was here in front of her now, injured yes, but alive.

He entered the room, "Nobody would give me a mirror," Garrus remarked, while indicating his wounds. "How bad is it?"

Amanda didn't really care, he was alive. Evidence of his wounds, the protective plate over the back and one side of his head and the raw scrapes on his mandibles, were a chilling reminder of how very close it had been. Still she knew this was not the moment for it, not with Jacob's eyes on them watching. Instead she smirked at the turian, "Hell Garrus, you were always ugly, slap some face paint on there and no one will notice."

Her quip caused the turian to laugh and then to wince, "Ahhh, Don't make me laugh, damn it," he complained still sounding amused, "My face is barely holding together as it is."

She knew that feeling, Amanda thought as she watched him reach up and delicately touch the harsh looking scrapes along his jaw. She almost reached up to touch her own, but stopped herself before she did. The synthetic tissue underneath didn't hurt anymore, with time Garrus's would stop hurting as well, or at least she hoped it would.

"Some women like facial scarring," Garrus finally remarked, his voice taking on a sly note of humor. When he paused Shepard raised one eyebrow at him her lips already quirking in amusement, she knew something was coming. "Mind you, most of those women are krogan," the turian drawled.

Shepard chuckled, feeling warmed, yes, it was wonderful having Garrus back.

Jacob pushed himself away from the table, stiffened to attention and saluted her. She nodded, acknowledging it and watched as the former Alliance soldier left. She knew he meant it as a sign of respect, and she accepted it as such, but he also reminded her of Alenko, and that was a painful reminder of the hard decision she had made on Virmire and the loss of a kind man whose life had ended too soon. She could see the same signs of attraction in Jacob's dark eyes, and not wanting a repeat of the embarrassing scene with Kadian over Liara, was keeping a very professional distance between them.

Garrus waited until the door had closed behind him before turning back to her, "Frankly, I'm more worried about you." All signs of humor were gone now, "Cerberus, Shepard? You do remember those sick experiments they were doing?"

Meeting the turian's gaze she nodded shortly, her jaw setting into a grim line. "That's why I'm glad you're here Garrus. If I'm walking into hell, I want someone I trust at my side."

He stared at her for a moment, and then his mandibles flared slightly into a turian smile, "You realize this plan has me walking into hell, too." He paused to laugh, a single dry chuckle, "Just like old times."

She smiled back, accepting the lightening of the mood. "I'm fit for duty whenever you need me Shepard." He continued businesslike, "I'll settle in and see what I can do with the forward batteries."

Amanda nodded, "Good, we'll be upgrading the Normandy's armor to the new asari Silaris plating within the next few weeks and I'd like to get the weapons upgraded at the same time as well. We know how well it went the last time we tangled with the Collectors with the current ship's armor and weapons." She could see the immediate upset in his eyes at the mention of the attack which had taken her life, but it needed to be faced. This was round two, and the Collectors had defeated them handily in round one.

Omega Station - Quarantined Ward

As if she wasn't having enough problems adjusting to being alive again, Shepard thought as she stared down at the dying batarian spewing forth words of hatred and accusing her race of developing this plague as a bio-weapon. Omega certainly wasn't make things easier for her, she was only too aware of the part of her that urged her to simply walk off and let him die as he deserved, as all batarians deserved. It wasn't a part of herself that she liked, and was an old, old hatred that she thought she had left behind her years ago.

Damn her dreams, even exhausted they woke her almost nightly with memories of death and dying. Memories of her own death and memories of Mindoir, dreams in which she relived the attack on the colony by batarian slavers, watched as her mother was shot and died only a few feet away from her hiding place. Memories of finally crawling out of the shelving unit where her mother had concealed her, of kneeling beside her mother's stiffening body and weeping as silently as possible so the batarians wouldn't find her. Memories of creeping to one of the windows an indeterminate amount of time later, of looking out and witnessing the carnage, the dead bodies of her neighbors and friends. Memories of what she had seen and done before arriving Alliance marines had finally driven the slavers away. Memories which shouldn't be so immediate, or so intense, or so like the events in them had just occurred instead of happening fifteen years ago.

The batarian was forced to pause his spewing of vitriol hate as a wet hacking coughing took over, he was dying literally at her feet and she was just staring down at him her emotions locked away somewhere deep inside. She was better than this. She knelt, gave him an injection of medi-gel, and ordered herself to push it down to deal with it later. She became aware of Jacob and Miranda eyeing her. Wonderful, they must have noticed that she had come very close to doing nothing and letting the batarian die.

It took them awhile to fight their way through to where the salarian doctor's clinic was located. The Blue Sun mercenaries seemed intent on trying to kill anyone moving who wasn't with them and the vorcha fighting them were not any friendlier to her team than they were to the mercs.

Mordin didn't seem fazed that he was being asked to work with Cerberus; it was their mission against the Collectors that interested him more. Shepard hadn't expected to run into any of their handiwork on Omega, but Mordin made it clear that the they were one of the few races advanced enough to bio-engineer the plague sweeping though the ward. He was also intrigued by the possibility of there being a link between the abductions of human colonists and the fact that the plague didn't infect humans.

He had developed a cure, one that could be deployed as an airborne agent by the wards environmental control center. The same environmental control center which was shut down at the same moment the salarian was discussing it. Before she left she even remembered to mention the sick batarian near the wards entrance, she had promised to send help if possible, it made her feel a little better to know she had filled that promise. She would not let her old hatreds consume her, she had struggled with them once and won, she would again.

Her brief talk with the vorcha confirmed it; the Collectors were behind the plague.

Plague cured, Mordin agreed to join them, after of course he finalized a few things at his clinic to make sure it would continue running smoothly in his assistants hands.

Shepard tapped her omni-tool, double checking that she had managed to capture the vorcha's short speech. She suspected this might count as breaking Aria's single rule. Even if it didn't, Shepard suspected the asari would appreciate knowing that the plague had been eradicated and the quarantine could be lifted. She suspected having an entire ward of the station shut down was bad for business.

It had taken them two hours to fight through the ward and cure the plague; it only took them fifteen minutes to make it back to Aria's forces. One just had to step over the dead bodies in the way. Shepard sighed; she seemed to be leaving a lot of dead bodies behind her these days. Of course they had been mostly fighting geth before; synthetics didn't make quite such a mess when they were destroyed.

They scanned them quite thoroughly before letting them back through into the main part of the station, but Shepard didn't blame them. The Collectors plague had been a nasty death.

Aria's eyes narrowed as soon as she saw them, she waved them back, and her guards enforced the warning by raising their weapons threateningly. "Leave a plague area and come right to me, I'm not sure I appreciate that Shepard."

She met the asari's annoyed glare calmly, "Your men guarding the quarantine area scanned us before letting us back in. We're clean. Besides Mordin had a cure for the plague, we dispersed it using the ward's environmental control center. You can open it back up whenever you want."

Aria replied coolly, "So I heard, but I'd still appreciate some space between us until I verify that for myself."

Shepard nodded, "Understood, I just thought you'd like to know who developed and deployed a bio-engineered plague on your station."

Aria stared at her, eyes narrowed, gaze weighing. "I would," she finally agreed.

Shepard brought up her omni-tool, and glanced at the batarian guard nearest the asari. Aria indicated with a smooth, graceful tilt of her head for him to accept the transmission. It was a simple matter to transfer the file to his omni-tool.

With a few taps the batarian opened up the file and began playing it.

"You don't come here. We shut down machines. Break fans. Everyone choke and die. Then Collectors make us strong." The recording was better than she expected, Shepard thought, the vorcha's growling voice came though quite clearly.

"What did the Collectors want?" that was her voice, firm, demanding an answer.

"Collectors want plague. You work for doctor. Turn on machines, put cure in air. We kill you first." The recording ended with the sound of gunfire.

From the way Aria stiffened, and the seriously pissed look on the asari's face, Shepard had been right; Aria definitely did not like the idea of her station being used as the location for a Collector experiment. Especially one as fatal and disruptive as the plague had been, if the asari hadn't acted so quickly to seal off the ward it might have spread to the entire station.

Aria's scowl lessened after a moment, though her lips still curved downward in a deep frown. The asari stared off into space deep in thought. After several seconds her head raised and her eyes sharpened upon Shepard, "What were they after?"

"Mordin's research showed that the plague introduced harmful respiratory system mutations. He thinks the Collectors were trying to find out how each species reacted to these mutations, what their tolerance levels were to them. Humans weren't targeted because they were the control group. Why exactly they wanted the information?" Shepard shrugged, "I have no idea, it's probably related to the strange requests they've made in the past for people who have specific genetic characteristics." She wasn't sure that Aria might not find a way to use the information that she planned on going after the Collectors, so Shepard remained quiet about it and its possible link. "Whatever their reasons, I can't say I like the implications of them researching the results of forced mutations." Since Aria wasn't interrupting her Shepard decided to add one more thing, "From the Omega 4 relay, Omega Station's the closest place they can find a mixed species population, that's probably why they chose to release it here."

"Thanks for the information and for helping Mordin." Aria openly studied her for a few seconds before observing, "You're a strange mix Shepard, you kill half the mercs on Omega getting Archangel out," the asari's eyes went to the scarred turian standing protectively alert behind the Spectre, settling the question of whether or not Aria realized Archangel hadn't been killed as the mercenary groups thought, and had joined her instead. "You find information that they were planning to move against me and hand it over without asking me for anything in return. Then you go into a plague zone and help cure it as well as finding out who's responsible for it."

Amanda couldn't help it, she smirked, "At least I'm not boring to have around."

Asari didn't really have brows to arch, that didn't mean they couldn't give one a look. "No, I can't say that," Aria agreed dryly, "So now that you've found everyone you were looking for, are you leaving soon?"

It was so well delivered that Shepard had to laugh, full and rich, the sound overwhelmed the music of the club for a moment with warm merriment. "Yes, as a matter of fact all we're waiting for is Mordin to tie up a few loose ends and join us, and then we'll be leaving." Amanda's smile slipped for a moment, her eyes shadowed, "Damn," she quietly commented more to herself than anyone else, "I think that's the first time I've really laughed since..." realizing she had actually said that aloud, Shepard settled for finishing, "well it's been awhile."

Aria stared at her, a strangely serious expression on her face, and for some reason Shepard had the idea that the asari had known what she had actually been going to say. That it was the first time she had laughed since she woke up on that table, since she came back to life. The first time she had laughed in over two years. God that was a depressing thought.

"Well, glad I could do something in return for all your help, Shepard," Aria's smooth voice broke Amanda out of thoughts.

She mustered up a crooked smile, "That's all I came by here for, to give you that. We'll probably be departing in an hour or so."

"Last chance then to relax with one of the dancers," the asari responded, "if it has been that long since you laughed you definitely need to loosen up some Shepard."

She had to smile at that, "I'll pass on that, but thanks for the thought."

Aria shrugged, "Your loss," it was a dismissal. Shepard nodded, turned and left, it was time to go. She had two more dossiers, and neither potential recruit thrilled her. She didn't think either would end up being a pleasant surprise like Archangel had turned out.

Normandy

When she got back to the ship, Kelly informed her she had messages waiting. One of them was from Dr. Chakwas, who had sent her a note informing her that her skin was being so stubborn about healing because of a reaction between her cybernetic systems and organic. The doctor included schematics for a piece of medical equipment that would help with the healing if they didn't heal on their own. It was an expensive piece of equipment though, and one that Shepard was loath to spend the resources on as it would only benefit herself. She'd rather see if they healed on their own, which Chakwas indicated was very possible, given that her face already looked much better than it had even a week ago. If she didn't look, or touch the places on her body where the skin wasn't fully healed she could even forget about the reality of it for a time.

Now if only her dreams and memories weren't so vivid, and if they would stop filling her mind, forcing themselves into her consciousness at any moment they desired. She wasn't only dreaming of dying, she was also dreaming about her mother's death, something she had thought she had finally come to terms with years ago. She knew she should probably talk with Dr. Chakwas about this but...she didn't know how much Cerberus was monitoring the Doctor. Her shoulders slumped, actually she did, she was certain they were monitoring everything she did, and a visit to the doctor to talk about her dreams and the strange way her memories would suddenly surface at any slight provocation and how intense, real and immediate they felt would certainly be reported to Cerberus.

Neither her memory issues nor her dreams seemed to be getting any worse, and besides the broken sleep, didn't seem to be physically harmful. She could wait, Shepard decided, see if the situation resolved itself without letting anyone know she sometimes felt like her memories were all jumbled up in her head and were slowly driving her crazy. Memories of her sixth birthday should not be this clear and they definitely shouldn't seem as immediate as what happened yesterday.

Continued...