I was grateful that I had finally managed to shut him up and get him to keep his distance from me, even though it felt like my heart had shattered into a million pieces all over again. About 30 seconds later the first wave of goons had started pouring through the doors, and we both knew it was showtime. "Here we go." I said, making sure I was tapped into their comms network before we started systematically stalking them and taking them out.

Kaidan's group on the other side was taking them down as they moved through as well, so they were getting hit on all sides. The transmissions coming over the comms started getting more and more panicked, finally just screaming about how there was a whole fucking army in the archives and they were all being slaughtered and someone needed to do something. Finally, a feminine voice snapped over the radio. "Will someone please shut these idiots up? They're giving me a headache." At the sound of Della's voice my eyes closed, and I heard Rix growl behind me.

"Gladly." I whispered, as I finally got the bead on the man who'd been bleating the loudest over the comms. He dropped like a sack of potatoes, and the grin that crossed my face was very unpleasant. "You wanted a mission, there's your mission." I said, and it took Rix a minute to respond.

"We could have avoided all this arguing if you had just simply said 'I need you on this' from the very beginning." He replied, very softly.

"Everyone I've ever needed has ended up dead because of it." I responded, voice dead. He said nothing for a long time, as we continued to move and snipe through the ranks of the mercs. Finally, I heard him whisper to himself 'Goddamnit, I am such a fucking asshole', but I pretended I hadn't heard anything. Once we had thinned the ranks enough, Della started barking orders rapid-fire over the comms, trying to get people to report in, change positions, cover flanks, all kinds of random shit.

"Hey, isn't that the woman who got herself fired for wrongly imprisoning people? Well, I guess we know who Hope's working for, now." Kaidan's voice crackled across our comms, and I just closed my eyes as I shook my head.

"What, his grasp of the obvious isn't inspiring anymore?" Rix quipped, though I could tell by his tone that his heart wasn't in it, not yet anyway. That pain just made it all worse.

"If she's the mastermind of this operation I'll eat my hat." I deadpanned, while taking a two-for-one lined up shot.

"You sure about that?" He retorted, dripping with sarcasm.

"If she was a mastermind, she'd still be on her throne at the prison, and you know it." I replied, and he finally grunted his assent. The good thing about the fact that she loved to hear herself talk was the fact that it was very easy to pinpoint her location. We sat crouched on a catwalk, watching her pace back and forth behind a chair that Ash was strapped into. I knew from that setup that there was a gap that Kaidan would have to cross – a gap that she filled with one of the Archive tubes, which fit perfectly and blended in.

I also knew that Maya was hiding in the area just behind them, and I knew she was going to come sauntering out when the time was right. Glitch was keeping me updated on Kaidan's location, so that I didn't have to bring up my omnitool and risk giving us away. When he was close enough, I turned to Rix. "Okay, the fireworks are really about to start going off. I'm going to make my way over to the catwalk above them, as quietly as possible. You stay here – concussive shot on my mark." I said, pointing at Della.

"Is that what you need?" He asked, and I didn't like the way he said that.

"No, what I need is for you to put a bullet in her head, but we're all making sacrifices today." I quipped, and he frowned. "Yes, Rix, that's what I need. While she very much needs to die for the misery she's caused, she needs to live and suffer through it herself even more. Otherwise, no one else gets any justice but us." I said, and he nodded slowly. "That's not saying, if she gives us no other choice..." I trailed off, and the nod was definitely faster this time.

Without another word I made my way slowly and quietly across the rigging and catwalks, before I finally had myself in position above where I thought would be the best spot to drop down, when the time was right. Kaidan still took forever to get to where Ash was, and I sighed as he stepped right into the trap. Granted, I needed him to, but it was the principle of the matter.

"Ash? Ash! Wake up Ash, are you okay?" Kaidan yelled, and I felt my eyes close of their own accord. "Listen lady, I don't know what bug crawled up your ass or retribution you feel you need to get for losing your job, but we weren't even involved..." He started to say, then trailed off as heeled boots came clacking out from behind the partition where I knew Maya had to be hiding.

"Ah... Poor, sweet, innocent little Kaidan, missing the point as always." Maya said as she stalked forward seductively, tapping her fingers on the other woman's shoulder as she smiled.

"You?!" He asked, voice strangled.

"Of course, me! How else was I supposed to get all the inside information that I needed to enact my plan? It's really nothing personal, Kaidan, but a girl's gotta have goals, and well, she's gotta do whatever she can to achieve them. People from my past need to pay, and this time I'm going to have the power to make sure that they do. Then, well... The world's my oyster!" She simpered, laughing.

"It really is a pity though – all of this could have been avoided if you'd have just accepted my advances to begin with, then you could be by my side through all of this instead of dying here, locked in the artifact vault you're currently trapped in. If only you hadn't been so hung up on that red-headed bitch who went and got herself killed in some stupid covert ops a few years back, but oh well. At least with a lack of oxygen you'll just go to sleep and never wake up. I can't say the same for Ash here – she's been really unpleasant to me at times." Maya trailed off, laughing mockingly. My brain snagged on the redhead comment, and Rix had made a noise in my earpiece when she had said that as well. What the fuck?

"I swear to God Hope, if you hurt Ash..." Kaidan growled, and I gave the barest of snorts. That comment actually sounded like it had a bit of backbone to it.

"Oh, what, are you going to haunt me? Break out of your vault and hunt me down? We both know you're too much of a goody two shoes to shoot an unarmed woman. Besides, you can't kill me – you'd miss me." She simpered again, and I had to swallow down the bile that rose in my throat, even as I landed behind her on the word 'me'.

"Not at this distance I won't, bitch." I snarled, as I pressed my pistol to the back of her head and pulled the trigger. Rix's shot went off at the same time, and the bitch beside me dropped like a sack of potatoes. I turned and went to find the nearest console to unlock the vault, which was behind the wall where Maya had been hiding. I popped my neck and considered just disappearing out the back, but decided to see where Rix was and check that the cleanup mission was going well first.

As I stepped back around the partition, I rocked back for half a second when I saw Anderson beside Kaidan. Because of course he'd followed along – that's why Kaidan was moving so slowly, I realized, as I watched Anderson limp towards me. He reached my side with a smile, clapping his hand on my shoulder. "Amazing job, Kari. Minimal loss on our end, recorded confession, and her underling to interrogate to boot. I'm mightily impressed, I owe you. We all do." He said, and my eyes went a little flat. He just grinned. "That's why I regret this." He said, and my eyes went huge, before I tried to jerk away from his hand. It was too late though, as the needle slid between the fabric of my thin, flexible armor, piercing the skin as an icy, burning sensation flooded the area.

"David, you backstabbing son of a–" I snarled, before the world slid away from me and I went crashing down. Sometime later I jerked awake, sitting upright in the gloomy darkness, chest pounding. I could tell just by the feel of the bed underneath me where I was, but could it have been anywhere else? I reached over and turned on one of the small lamps, just to see that I was indeed in the downstairs bedroom in Anderson's apartment. "Fuck me running." I muttered softly, reaching for my omnitool only to find it gone. "I'm going to kill you!" I snarled, flinging back the covers.

A wave of dizziness hit me as I stood, but I powered through it to make my way to the door, only to find it locked. I growled in frustration, and started looking around the room, when I spotted the note I had missed when I turned on the light.

"Yeah, I know you're pretty pissed at me, but you're not just running off into the unknown until we have a talk. I had some things to take care of, I left you some food in the kitchen. Please eat and take a little bit to calm down, before I get back. I have news that you might want to hear, considering the things I overheard thanks to EDI being linked to your Turian friend's omnitool while you two were working your way through the archives. Don't worry, no one else did – your secret is safe with me. And her, but that's on you with how you woke her up. I'm rambling. The voice password is your nickname. Be back in a bit. A."

I crumbled up the note and threw it against the wall with a cry of frustration, trying to swallow the rage welling up inside me. It didn't matter, I could get out of here without my omnitool. It would be tricky, but I could get my other one when I got back to the ship. "Ness!" I growled, and the door slid open behind me. I released a heavy sigh as it did, my stomach rumbling at the same time. Grumpily, I made my way to the kitchen, deciding to see if he had left me something I could eat on the go.

"Of course not. Of course it's something I have to eat here, and there's nothing I can throw together for on the go either. I bet the bastard took my omnitool with him to boot." I growled, as my hand hung over the top of the fridge's door.

"He did, but I got it back for you when he wasn't looking. He's starting to slip a bit in his old age." A voice said from behind me, a voice that started out as its usual tar-coated gravel self, then slid into the deep, growling velvet that I thought I'd never hear again in this lifetime. Tears immediately clouded my eyes as it became impossible to swallow, and I whirled around to the figure behind me, my face crumpling as I took in the sight of Rix standing there, finally unmasked – no material to hide the familiar lines of his fringe and faceplates, nothing blocking out the clarity of those beautiful blue eyes. Even without the facepaint, I'd recognize that face anywhere.

My breath hitched and stuttered as my chin quivered, watching him walk forward, letting him slide my omnitool back on my wrist and turn it on. I kept frowning and shaking my head as he looked at me, removing his gloves and tucking them into a pocket so he could slide his bare hands across the soft skin of my face. My mouth parted as he caressed my jaw and cheeks, tilting my face up as he bent down to kiss me thoroughly, in the manner we had figured out was most enjoyable for the both of us with the differences in our physiology. His hands slid down to my hips and his talons gripped me, pulling me forward as he did that stupid little thing with his tongue that always made me weak in the knees, while my arms snaked up around his neck so I could steady myself.

He broke away all too soon with a gasp, both of us breathing heavily as he smiled down at me. "God, I missed you Shepard." He whispered, as he bent forward and touched his forehead to mine. I started to sink into his embrace as the memories of all the time we spent together began running through my head, but then the reality of the situation sunk in and I felt horror sliding through me. Nausea rose in my chest as panic flooded my veins – I hadn't known, I didn't do it on purpose! I could feel myself starting to hyperventilate, when a golden, nebulous warmth enveloped my entire body. 'Be at peace, Shepard. You have not broken your promise. This was our intent all along, so that we could fulfill the promise we made to you. It's finally over.' Her voice whispered in my ear, as the panic and nausea faded from me. Then, just like that, her touch was gone.

"Well, that's definitely a different experience than being visited by her in my dreams. I take it she just gave us her blessing, and kept the panic and fear I was smelling from overwhelming you?" He asked, and I blinked rapidly as I looked at him. "I'll take it by the look on your face that that's a yes. So, now that you've got your tool back, how do you propose we get out of here? I'm not really in the mood to talk to David right now either – I don't have the spoons for it, as you say. I did try to activate the Archangel protocols with Glitch, before I came to release you in a daring rescue and escape plan, but for some reason I don't have the clearance for that. Bit of an oversight to leave Archangel out of the Archangel protocols, don't you think?" He asked, and my pulse was racing for an entirely different reason.

"I know that look you're giving me, Shepard – Kari." He amended, as he saw me flinch at the use of my old name. "I shouldn't know that name, right? I shouldn't remember how I earned it, or our reunion on Menae after being separated for six months, or the lump in my throat I had to swallow around when you came to talk to me after I rejoined the ship at the thought of you wanting to move on, or surprising you with the tango I learned for you, or the last words I ever said to you as you ordered me on the ship before you ran face first into Harbinger's beam. Or the way your scent hit me as you walked up the Citadel steps as I stood there arguing with Pallin, punching me in the gut in a way that took me way too long to understand." He said, and I tilted my head at the last, frowning. Was he?

"Saying that I fell hard for you the very first time we met? Oh yeah. Like I said, it took me way too long to realize it, but there's never been anyone else for me but you since that day. It felt like I'd been hit by a freight truck and I'd come home all at the same time, and it took me the longest time to understand why. It took your death, actually. I'm grateful this time it didn't take nearly as long – though I think the constant sense of deja vu and everything else we can discuss later helped a lot." He trailed off, gently brushing a talon down my face.

He bent forward again, close enough I could feel the air disturbance as his mandibles fluttered. "I love you Kari, Shepard, Ness – whatever you want to be called. I always have, and I always will. I've just been waiting for you to remember me... and now that I think back, you've remembered me all along, haven't you? That's why you were so sick after that news – oh my god, I'm such an asshole." He said as his head jerked back, his mandibles flaring so hard he made a small noise of pain.

I smiled softly and touched his face, causing him to look at me. "How long have you known?" I asked, voice as soft as my touch.

"Pretty much since the first day, when Rick introduced us. Maelon did a good job, but he didn't mask your pheromones quite well enough. Even if it wasn't for that, just everything about you, especially when you didn't have your memories and your body was just doing things naturally. And after you remembered, you did withdraw a little bit, but there really wasn't anyone around you had to worry about. Still, all of that could be just what I wanted to see and hear and feel and smell. It was truly cemented for me at the outpost base, though I still wasn't sure how much you actually remembered or not at that point. It wasn't until you mentioned everyone getting killed because you needed them in the archives that it all clicked into place for me." He said, and I closed my eyes, wrapping my arms around him as I nestled against his side. It felt so good to just be held by him.

"This is all very touching, kids, but I can only stall Anderson for so much longer. Are you getting the hell out of dodge, or are you going to rip the bandaid off and actually talk to him?" Joker's voice said over Garrus's comm, breaking our little reverie.

"Godsdamnit Jeff." I growled, only to receive laughter in response.

"Come on Shepard, did you really think you could crawl through my ship and reactivate my girlfriend with a code that only one living person in the galaxy could have known, and I wouldn't put it all together and figure it out? Especially after giving me shit about threatening you with an extinguisher instead of a gun, and the tone in your voice when you told Kaidan to eat it? Not to mention all the fun conversation I got to overhear thanks to EDI's tap of the Turian's comms? By the way, is that really you Vakarian? If so, Anderson's really pissed at you – Shepard he forgave for faking her death, but you?" I shook my head and looked down, blinking back tears.

"I didn't fake it, Jeff. I did die. Someone had to." I whispered, as Garrus's arms tightened around me.

"I technically didn't fake it either – 13 seconds, but still. Enough to count." He growled, and I actually laughed a little. Then I remembered the note Anderson had left, and I went serious and stiff.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that talk is moot point by now, isn't it David? I'm pretty sure he's been listening this whole time, just like you have. After all, he also overheard everything we said in the archives thanks to EDI's link to Garrus's comms, so why would that suddenly end? I'm pretty sure he let you take my tool back from him, Vakarian." I commented, voice wry, and the front door slid open. Anderson stepped through with a self-deprecating laugh, and I speared him with a look that was incredibly unfriendly. Garrus could feel my hand forming a fist, and he ran his hand along my arm, trying to get me to unclinch it.

"We don't punch our friends, Kari." He said softly.

"We do when we asked them to do something simple and they failed horribly at it." I growled, and he shook his head.

"He did the best he could, Kari. Someone tried to kill me – a few times, actually. But I had warnings thanks to your visitor, and Mordin's help, and we figured it out. It sucked, but we figured it out." He said, his hand waving near his face to indicate the scars.

"Just couldn't go one lifetime without them, could you?" I quipped sarcastically, and his mandibles fluttered with laughter.

"When I remembered how they drove you wild? Please." He said, as his head came down to kiss me again, thoroughly enough that he had to hold me upright, company be damned.