hands. He chose a life of a farmer, a life with breakfasts in bed well after noon, and long walks and longer conversations. Their first few

meals had been made over a fire he started with a flint and tinder because the appliances hadn't been delivered yet. He rode horses and

grew his own food, and his hair grew grey and his beard became peppered before they found him again, and dragged him back into the thick of

it all. His daughters grew up and he piloted a desk for them when all he wanted was the freedom of his two story cabin and his horses and

his brilliant scientist wife and long walks and long conversations and eggs from chickens he raised, and bacon from the pigs he had and

bread made from the grain he grew and the warmth of a sunset and the whistle of the wind through the pines. And yet, here and now, a life

later and a galaxy millions of light years away, he had an opportunity to do it all again. And his head was full of the simple life he

walked away from, a life he had physically never experienced, but that was all he wanted was that simplicity again. The life he had, but

turned down, but they had needed him again. So he answered the call, for that's what heroes did. And he did it again, and again, and again.

So while he waited on MiMi and Garrus, fellow relics from a bygone age of legendary heroes, he thought of Liara, and the way the light

danced across her skin, and the sound of her voice, and the home he had made for her...

*unintelligible fanboy noises*

The hurt, the pain you carry with you...that means they are still there. You carry them with you in everything you do and everything you are

They're part of you, forever. You honor them by being the person they would want you to be. And that's what keeps you going.

*Shepard took his leave of his friends in the hospital, and, looking grizzled and weary, he made his way back to the ship, and his waiting -

-bed on the Monitor.* Eugine Orr

Old habits die hard, I guess

//Astonishing just how much...and how little...I've changed since I started here. 5 years is forever and a heartbeat.

Liara is Blue Garrus is Grey I’m Commander Shepard We’ll bang, okay?