The End of A War: Cpt 2: Rendevous and Recovery

The next time I open my eyes, everything hurts. Worse than when I first got shot by Harbinger. I scream again in pain, but I don't have the energy to move my arm to my chest. A few tears of sheer agony come out as my eyes slam shut again. I grit my teeth as hard as I can, trying to block the pain out. Fuck, fuck... Fuck this hurts. I wish I could scream it, just to vent... But I don't even have the energy to do that. The only thing I can do is lay there and slowly tone the pain out.

I open my eyes again, absorbing all of the information I can. I made it to the beam. I'm back on Earth, on the ground where the Citadel's beam came from. The sun's starting to rise... The sky's clear now. No more explosions, no gun fire in the background... I can't believe it... It's finally over... I wish I could laugh and feel good about this.

Slowly, I roll over to my stomach and push myself to my knees. I fall back down at least three times, the burning and exhaustion preventing me from making it up all the way. When I get steady, I pull one foot out from under me and out in front. Using every ounce of adrenaline and will power I have, I stand to my feet. I try to give myself some medi-gel, but I'm out. Damn. A sigh comes out involuntarily. What I wouldn't give for it to be one of relief.

I slowly put my foot out and limp a half-step, almost falling again. The next foot comes after that, and then another half-step, and then another. I limp towards Anderson, still slumped over behind the tank, right where I left him. I bend down and press my fingers to his throat with a prayer that I feel one... but... Anderson is really gone. "I'm sorry, old friend." I sigh.

I open up my comms again. "Please, can anybody hear me?" I manage weakly.

"COMMANDER!" Cortez immediately screams back. "You're alive?"

"I think..." I say, prompting my ribs to burn in pain. "Is there anyone by the Citadel's beam? I need a lift."

"The team's at the FOB. I've got a shuttle, and can be there in ten."

"Thanks. I'll..." The sentence is interrupted by my own groan of pain. "..try to meet you by the top of the crater."

"Is that Shepard?" Vega questions.

"It's me, James. Get your ass down here and help me."

"We're coming, Loco."

"Somebody get a hold of Tali. She needs to know." Cortez says. "Be there in ten."

I slowly limp up the hill to the top. The irony occurs to me of how it takes me ten minutes to climb up when I ran down in about thirty seconds... Made it up, at least.

At the top of the crater, I reach up and grab the ledge when something grabs my hand. It's an arm, followed by another lower down to my elbow that grabs me and pulls me over. I yell in pain as the burns and broken bones sting like a bullet.

The arms get me onto the ground above it when I hear an familiar voice. "Oh, my God... Skipper... Javik, get your ass over here! Shepard's alive!" I never thought I'd be so happy to hear Ash...

She rolls me to my back when Javik reaches me. "Commander." he says with a tone with more surprise than anything else.

"Good to see you too." I moan, closing my eyes and resting. "What happened?"

"A tank exploded on our run down to the beam." Ash informs. "It fried our radios and pinned us under some rubble. We got free about an hour ago and started checking for survivors or a radio."

"I'm glad you guys are alright... The three of us are the only survivors of Hammer company."

"Not even Anderson?" Ash continues. I shake my head no.

"He died a noble death, Commander." Javik says. "He brought the Reapers with him."

"Can you guys help me up before I fall asleep again?" I ask.

Just as they hoist me to my feet, the shuttle lands with a thud in front of us. The door opens to the team and they rush out to me. Tali's out the door first, slamming into me with a hug. My ribs scream at me, but I don't care. I start to cry as I sling my arm off Javik and onto her shoulders.

"Keelah, don't do that to me..." she whispers, her voice broken and coming in small bursts. "Don't ever do that to me again..."

"I won't, baby girl." I whisper. I press my face against her hood and the cold of her mask. My tears make the fabric wet inside of a second.

"I thought I'd never see you again, Tali..." My own voice is breaking now. We're shaking like crazy with each sob. "I love you. I swear I love you. I will never leave you again..."

"We need to get him out of here." Ash finally says and breaks us up. Tali slips under my other shoulder while Javik grabs my legs and hoists me into the shuttle.

"Holy fuck, Loco." Vega mutters when he sees me collapse into a chair in the shuttle. "Get this fucker moving, Esteban!"

Everyone finally gets in, the doors shut, and the shuttle takes off.

"We'll be back at the refugee center in fifteen!" Cortez informs. "They'll have the best medics."

"Just hurry." Ash emphasizes.

EDI crouches down in front of me, bringing out her omni-tool and scanning me. "Multiple laser and fire burns, severe cuts and bleeding, multiple broken ribs, concussion..." she lists off. "Dispensing medi-gel."

Immediately, the painkillers flood my system, giving me relief. Not much, but enough to make me sigh.

"You have no idea how good that feels..." I half-chuckle.

Garrus takes the chair on my left and leans towards me. "You did it." he says, gently placing his hand on my shoulder. "The Reapers are gone, Aaron."

"Good..." I sigh, leaning back in my chair. "Not without a fight."

"We lost a lot of men, but... we won."

"There hasn't been a single Reaper moving since you set that thing off, Loco." Vega informs.

"Every Alliance fleet is making sure they're dead." Liara says. "But it's over."

I almost pass out with my head leaned back, so I roll it forward. One last thing.

"Tali..." She steps out in front of the rest and stops at my feet. "Come here..." I hold my hand up, finger baiting her towards me like a little taunt. She leans to my face, slow uncertainty in her movement.

I lay my hand on her shoulder and pull her mask to my forehead. "I love you, Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch." I whisper to her, more tears coming down. "You know that?"

She sets her hand on my cheek and runs her thumb down my jaw. Her suit feels so soft, just the perfect comfort I need, except maybe her skin.

"I know..." she whispers back. "I love you too, Aaron."

"I promise I'll never put myself in harm's way again. You deserve that. Ok?"

"Ok." she giggles. It's not her usual happy, sarcastic giggle, but her relieved and terrified one.

"What I said last night..." I continue. "About us... about Rannoch... I meant every word of it. I still want that. Do you?"

"Yes..." she laughs again, this time louder. "Yes, I do. I do..." she sobs.

"Good." I whisper. "I just wanted to make sure." My eyes close again out of exhaustion, and I lose consciousness.
******************************************************************************************

The next time I open my eyes, all the pain's gone and fluorescent lights are above me. I can feel myself laying on my back, covered in what feels like bandages on a bed. I shake my head a little to clear it. I hear voices around me, but they sound distant.

It takes a moment for them to become clear. I start to pick out the voices and words. Garrus says something about checking a monitor, Ash about getting a nurse, Liara and not being awake. I pick my head up and look around, slowly working through the fog. I'm in a hospital room, laying on a bed, covered in bandages with wires coming out everywhere. I see everybody standing at the foot of my bed. Garrus, Liara, Vega, Ash, Tali... They're alternating between looking out the door and at me.

Finally, a nurse rushes in and over to me. All I catch is white skin and red hair before she pushes me down against the bed and starts to check me over. Usual lights in eyes check, breathing, heartbeat. "Do you know where you are, Commander?" she asks.

"Some kind of hospital?" I guess.

"That's right." she nods. "You're in the Alliance Naval Hospital on Mars."

"What am I doing on Mars?"

"This hospital was in the best shape after the war, Commander. You were on Earth for three days with the refugees until you were stable enough to move. You've spent the last four days in our ICU."

"I've been asleep for a week!?" I shout, making her jump back.

"Medically induced until yesterday." she informs. "All you have in you now is enough painkillers so you're comfortable and essential nutrients through an IV. I'm going to get your doctor to make sure you're functional. Don't try to move."

She goes back out the room and the guys walk over to me.

"How do you feel, Skipper?" Ash asks.

"A hell of a lot better than I did earlier." I chuckle a little. "Just... trying to wrap my head around things. How are you guys?"

"Most of us have slept in here at least once." Liara says. "Some haven't left your room."

"Let me guess: you, Ash, Garrus, Tali." I joke.

"You're surprised?" Garrus laughs. "We weren't about to leave you. No Shepard without Vakarian, remember?"

"So what all happened when the Crucible went off?" I ask. "The Reapers died, from the sound of it."

"The Crucible sent out some kind of EMP blast." Ash informs. "Some beam shot from one Reaper to the next. Each one that hit sent out a blue blast around it, killing any Reaper forces around it."

"The beam you took up there glowed brighter once, then died off." Garrus continues. "The Citadel tower exploded from the Reaper shot and the Crucible launch. I was watching it from the base. We tried to raise you the radio, but we couldn't get anybody to answer. We though all of you were gone."

Tali cuts in front and leans against the bed to me. She grabs my hand and holds in between both of hers, thumb rubbing up and down the top of my hand.

"I thought I'd lost you again..." she whispers. The fear in her voice is even more apparent now without the pain in my head.

I lay my other hand on hers and hold it tight. "I'm sorry, Tali." I assure her. "I shouldn't have left you behind. I just couldn't... If I lost you, I'd never forgive myself. I had to make sure that you survived... But I'm sorry... I swear to you I'm sorry..."

"I know..." she whispers.

Finally, the nurse returns with the doctor. The older man with thinning blonde hair stays on the other side of the bed, actually staying mindful of Tali. "How are you feeling, Commander?" he asks.

"All things considered, still in shock of being alive."

He jots something down on his clipboard. "Any serious pain? Sensitivity to light? Dizziness? Feeling in all your limbs?"

"Everything's a little numb and fuzzy. But fine, Doc." I shrug. "How bad was it?"

"You suffered severe burns from the first blast by the Reapers, melting your chest plate to you." he says. "The falling metal debris broke more than a few ribs and almost your spine and pelvis. Couple that with the burn damage from the flames, and your survival is no small miracle.

"Because of the burns and cuts, you will need multiple skin grafts. You'll still have scars, but you will look better than you do now. You look like you were fed to a meat grinder under the bandages. We have some skin growing down in the labs, so that's taken care of. But you have a lot of other injuries that will take a lot of time to heal."

"All right. Just give me a time line. How long am I going to be stuck here?"

"Another two weeks in ICU. A week in post-surgery after the skin grafts. A month in physical therapy, minimum." he calmly informs. "You'll be taking therapy for a long time, but you can go home in two months, Commander."

"That long?" I ask, surprised.

"The Reaper beam and fire did a lot of damage to your body, but a lot worse to all the tech inside you." he notes. "We had to replace a lot of it with cloned organs, and it will take a while for you to adjust back to them. Instead of having roughly sixty percent artificial systems that you had before, we have you down to just under five. You were lucky we got a heads up about you when you first got to the hospital on Earth and we had your DNA on file, which allowed us to grow the replacements on rush. We would have to have you hooked up to almost six different artificial systems if not for the new organs."

"At least I'm still alive." I sigh. "Was that all you needed?"

"Nothing else, Commander. You can use the intercom to call any time." They walk back out of the room and close the door behind them.

I turn back to the guys and laugh a little. "I still don't know how I'm alive..."

"You're asking us?" Garrus jokes. "We managed to save most of your gear. Black Widow, Tempest, Paladin. Even the omni-tool. Only your armor was beyond repair."

I make a fist, and it glows to life around Tali's hands. "Great." I say. "Where's everybody else? Wrex, Joker, Javik?"

"Wrex and Joker are out in the hall with EDI." Ash says. "Javik said something about some nebula and got a ride out of the system."

"I hope he finds his peace." I mutter to myself. After all this... he deserves it. We all do.

"You have one hell of a fan club waiting for you out there." Vega says. "Every damn marine, reporter, and nut job wants to see you, Loco."

"Ah, hell..." I chuckle. "I'll talk to all them later. I don't want to deal with them yet."

"Maybe you'll get to knock one of them out again." Tali giggles a little.

"Maybe..." I rub my thumb across her hand, enjoying the comfort she brings.

Finally, I start to doze off again. "Mind if I go back to sleep, guys?" I ask.

"No problem, Loco." Vega says and walks out.

"Sleep tight, Skipper." Ash jokes. She pats me on the leg and follows Vega.

"I'll tell Wrex and Joker you're ok." Liara says. She goes out the door a second later.

"Get better, Aaron." Garrus says. "We have a lot of people who owe us drinks, and I don't want to go through them all alone."

"Think you can find me a book or something? Maybe my guitar?" I ask.

"Sure." he says. He walks out, leaving me and Tali alone in the room.

I lay there holding her hand while she sits there and watches me. It feels like a minute passes by without either of us moving, neither really sure what to do next. "I love you, Tali." I say. I just feel like I need to.

"I love you too, Aaron." she says.

"Come here." I request.

She leans towards me, and I pull my hand out of hers. I lay it down behind her back and pull her down to my face. "Do you think you can get a hold of Raan back on Rannoch?"

"I can call her. Why?"

"Ask her about the houses on Rannoch. Tell her to save that spot that you wanted. Get some builders ready and some designers here. I want to see if we can at least plan some of the house."

"Ok..." she whispers. She laughs and sobs a little at the same time. "I can't believe we're actually doing this."

"I figure we'll make a fortune just off the interviews and publicity. We'll be set, Tali. We can make this work. We deserve to have a retirement after all this."

"I know. It's just..." She laughs again. "It's a lot..."

"I know..."

I figure the ICU is sterile, so I pull her mask off and bring her face to mine. I stare into her white and red eyes, just loving all the love and emotion I can see. I close my eyes and kiss her, savoring her sweet taste. She moans softly, then pushes back into me. I push her hood back and run my hand through her hair. My other arm wraps around her and pulls her against me. Her hands grab the back of my head, pulling my lips to hers.

I take my head back just a hair. "I love you." I whisper.

"I love you too." She presses her lips to mine again.

We kiss for I don't know how long. We forget the world and everything else. We just focus on the touch of the other, that love we have. I finally let go and she stands up.

"Is it ok if we wait for a little before we really talk about all of this?" I ask. "I promise we will figure all of this out but... I'm just exhausted..."

"Ok... I'll call Auntie Raan tonight." she says. She slips her mask back on and pulls her hood up. She takes one last second to run her hand across the side of my face. "I'll be here when you wake up again." And then she walks out of the room.

"I love you, baby girl..." I mutter while I drift to sleep.