What awaits me

As Tali sat there with the entire team she was deep in thought; it seemed like an eternity since she had last seen Shepard after they parted with the doctors wheeling him into surgery.



Flashback to before Shepard was saved:

                “Commander Shepard, what is your status, over!” shouted Admiral Hackett over the intercom, Shepard having choose to jump into the synthesis beam was fell quite some distance as the Crucible absorbed his genetic material breaking him down into nothing more than molecules. After the process was done though, something unexpected happened, it reconstituted him from nothing and spit him back out safely at the base of beam. “Joker, I need you to swing by the Citadel and scan for the Commander’s position along with Anderson’s” ordered Hackett “Got it” responded Joker, as he skillfully piloted the Normandy past the debris of the Citadel as it broke off from the enormous structure “God damn it, it’s like piloting the Omega 4 relay all over again” as Jeff barely skimmed what seemed to be one of the arms of the Citadel “running scanner now, EDI I need you to find the Commander while I try to keep the ship from getting crushed” . “Scanning” replied EDI’s AI voice “Jeff, how are you feeling after that burst of light?” Joker then looked down at his arms “Besides the strange glowing circuitry in my arm and my brain being able to process everything that’s going on in mere seconds, could be worse. I don’t know what Shepard did but it stopped the Reapers” EDI then picked up Shepard’s vital signal “Jeff, I found him, he’s unconscious at the base of the Citadel, heavily wounded and his vitals are dropping very quickly, I suggest dropping in a team to extract Shepard.” Jeff hastily responded “We have no time, where at the base is he?” EDI then brought up a schematic of the Citadel and showed where Shepard’s signal was coming from “I’m going to bring the fire one of the cannons at the windows, EDI I need you to calculate how much energy it’ll need to break through the shields around the window and suck Shepard out. The Normandy will then open its airlock and get him before he goes into space…again.” EDI then began running calculations and commented “Jeff, this is extremely risky” “I know, you just need to trust me” EDI paused for a moment “I know you can do it” Joker smiled “ready?” he asked, “yes” responded EDI.



                The extraction went better than EDI had predicted, when he was extracted Dr.Chiawakwas was there waiting for him and marveled at the amount of damage done to him, never the less the miracle that he was still breathing “My god” she commented as she saw his broken body “Shepard, listen here.” As she brought a stretcher and pushed him to the Med-bay “It’s your turn to buy the ice brandy next year and I’ll be damned if I am going to have to drink by myself from now on. Joker, bring us back to Earth, I’ve already notified the Admiral and there is a team awaiting us at these coordinates with enough medical equipment to make the Lazarus project jealous” Joker then received the coordinates “Hold on doctor, it’s going to get a bit bumpy” he said as he returned the airlock and lifted away from the collapsing Citadel, speeding off back to Earth.

Meanwhile on Earth:

                The rush towards the beam didn’t fare well for most of the crew, between getting swarmed by the Reaper’s abominations and nearly being disintegrated by its beams, the team had felt better, alive but better “Got some more scars there Wrex” said Garrus “ow! I think I’d rather take another explosion to the face than feel like this” as Liara tightened the bandage around his head “at least us Krogan know how to deal with pain Garrus hehe” grunted Wrex as he sat up from the mountain of Husks he made a throne out of, Javik walked up to the three and added “In my cycle, we warriors proudly wore our scars like the Krogan, we were taught that the pain was temporary and that the victory was worth it” Liara looked up at Javik and smiled “So the last Prothean has made it through, now what?” Javik looked back at the Asari and smiled “I plan on traveling, see the universe, do you care to join Liara T’soni?” Liara looked shocked “Why of course not, I mean yes, I mean it will be an honor to travel with you.” Javik laughed “We can finally begin that book, My journey with the Prothean”.  While this was all going on Tali a few years away looked up at the sky “He’s coming back, you know” said Ashley approaching her “I want to believe that Ashley, I really do but..” she was unable to finish her sentence “Don’t say those things Tali, he wouldn’t want you to stop believing in him” Tali then looked at Ashley “After all the things I’ve been through, knowing my father died when he wanted to keep his promise, seeing Legion die in front of me to give his people freedom, seeing many of my comrades die. It’s hard not to think that, but you’re right I have to believe in him. Keela, we need to go and find survivors.” Ashley Williams then smiled and thought to herself “She’s grown up a lot, hasn’t she commander?” Just then over static the squad heard “This is Joker, we found Shepard and are taking him to a hospital at these coordinates” The entire team piped up as their Omni-tools were being given coordinates “Shepard’s alive, well I’ll be damned” said James Vega “Heh, never doubted him for a minute” replied Garrus “Yeah, with the bromance you two have, it’s almost like you got some cosmic love connection” laughed Vega. Tali then came running over “We have to get to him!” she shouted excitingly “He’s heavily injured and I need a receiving team ASAP” said Joker over the com.  “The coordinates are for a hospital outside of London, we can make it, I need any flyers that are up in the air to come and get us. NOW” ordered Ashley over the radio. I need an extraction for 7 of us”  “We will be there in a few seconds” replied an Asari “ 8?” asked Wrex, “We can’t leave EDI’s body here “joker would kill us.” She responded “Yeah what else would joker go and..” “Garrus!” interrupted Liara and added “Whatever is the case, Shepard is going to have a lot to answer for in regards to what’s happening to us” as she looked down at her skin and saw what seemed to be implants in her. The Asari fighter ships dropped down on their point “need a ride?” said a purple Asari



      To them the ride over was pretty smooth, the waiting to see Shepard was not. Tali was a nervous wreck and kept running the worst case scenarios in her mind and fidgeting from the amount of anxiety “Relax Tali, we started this together, we’ll finish this together” said Garrus putting his hand on her shoulder “Then you two can go off into the sunset and make me an uncle” Tali then laughed and punched Garrus in the shoulder saying “Bosh’tett”  “What do you think they’ll do now?” asked Javik to them as they looked at the smoldering ruins of London “they’re going to rebuild, just like what we’re doing on Tuchanka” answered Wrex “I just can’t wait to get home. Hopefully before Eve gives birth and names one of the kids Mordin” James then responded “It’s going to be tough without the Mass Relays” “Getting every species together was tough, fighting the Reapers and winning seemed impossible” pointed out Garrus “with all of us here, nothing is impossible. Well except for Wrex learning manners”, they all laughed



End Flashback:



                Dr.Chiawakwas exited the ICU where Tali and the others were waiting anxiously for news “The good news is, he’ll make it through” she said breaking the silence they all smiled “However, the damage to his physical body will take some years to overcome, it will take some years for him to fully recover. He’s still under but when he awakes you can go see him…Now if you’ll excuse me” she said taking off her mask and walking over to a military radio “ I have an old vengeful mercenary to go see” she said smiling “that’s nasty” replied James.

                After a few days Shepard finally gained consciousness and was able to see everyone. They all celebrated but one by one they left to go attend to their duties and figuring out their plans to go home, by the end of that celebration it was just him and Tali left sitting there looking outside a window at the sun, she then sat on his bed and looked at him “So” she started “you saved the universe, stopped the Reapers from ever coming back and got the girl” she said smiling underneath her helmet “Yeah.” He replied back smiling at her and holding her hand “the physical therapy is going to suck though” Tali then gripped his hand tighter and responded “and I’ll be with you the entire way.” Shepard then smiled at her “I know” Tali then stood up, walked to the window and said the boldest thing she could muster “Plus, I think I have something to help you motivate, commander” grinning evilly underneath her helmet “oh and what’s that Miss Vas Normandy?” asked Shepard trying to play innocent with her “oh I think you know Shepard.” She quickly responded as she then sat back down next to him and began to cuddle with him “The most important thing is that we’re together, everyone is safe and I don’t have to return to Rannoch for a few years while everyone tries to figure out how they plan on getting back to their home worlds” Shepard then looked back at her and then added “You know, I could always get myself moved over to a more sterile room” Tali then smiled underneath her helmet “I don’t think you’re ready yet for that kind of activity duty” she then took off her face mask and kissed him, when she broke away Shepard replied “Something to work forward to then” smiling when he finished that sentence