[sorry beforehand, post is gonna be a little massive. <3]
She shivers softly as he scrapes her neck with his teeth, leaning into him before returning his kiss. "I would appreciate that," she chuckles. "Though I think to poor old Timmy, we have gone pirate." She kisses him, lingers a moment, a hand trailing over the side of his face in a gentle caress. "I'll be back before you know it."
----
Oh how she regretted those words. That bitch Kensen had turned out to be indoctrinated; she showed her the proof of the imminent Reaper invasion all right, but had rendered her weak in the process, taking advantage to have her soldier swarm over her. Despite the sap of power, Shepard managed to fight them off for awhile before finally one of them took her down. A concussive round that sent her into the wall, knocking her unconscious. When she came to, fought her way through the station, she found out she had been out for two days. Two days. When she found that stupid woman, she would make her pay.
She rushed throughout the station, and found that the Reaper invasion was literally upon its crest - they would be here, within the hour. She started the project, to send the asteroid into the relay, and tried to warn the colonies on Aratoht, only to find the communications down thanks to Kensen who was now trying to meltdown the reactor. When she found her, she didn't give her a chance to talk. Shepard shot her, point blank, only to be caught in a resulting explosion.
When she came to, all she could hear was "collision imminent" over and over in the station's VI's voice. "Shit, shit, shit. Garrus is going to kill me," she muttered. She tried to radio the Normandy, but the communications were still blocked. "Get me a way out of here!" She snapped at the computer, who promptly told her escape shuttles were still accessible. When Shepard got to the roof of the compound, the last shuttle was leaving - which pissed off the remaining soldiers, as well as herself.
When the pad was clear, she ran to the communication tower's panel, panting, sweat trickling down her brow. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard! I need a pick up! Now!"
"Shepard! Coming for you now, ma'am!" Joker replied, much to Shepard's relief.
Which turned out to be short-lived when the holographic projection of Harbinger appeared before her. He was doing his damnedest to make her think they would lose, that the Reapers were coming and everything she was doing was in vain - in vain, or not, she was sacrificing 300,000 lives to keep the Reapers from invading. Not something Shepard did lightly, Batarian or otherwise. Harbinger faded and she ran for the Normandy as it slide close in, the airlock door opening to allow her to make a long jump into it. She ran into her vessel, shouting to Joker as she went, "Get us out of here!"
They were through the relay nigh instantly, Shepard standing over the CIC, looking at the Galaxy map as the relay coordinates disappeared. She hung her head with a sigh - she really hated statistics. The lives of a few for the lives of the many, she thought bitterly.
----
Hackett came for the debrief in person, meeting her in the med bay after she had passed out on the deck of the CIC. Chakwas assured her she was well, but she felt like she'd gone through hell and back - but as the debriefing progressed, she realized this was only the beginning. Tomorrow, the SR-2 would be escorted back to the Alliance on Earth and surrendered over. Not that she had a problem with that; the being under arrest, awaiting charges, separated from Garrus, is what bothered her. Hackett knew she had done the right thing, but she would be taking the hit, regardless.
After shaking hands with the Admiral, she sighed and sat on the medical bed, her head in her hands. Oh how she regretted those words she'd teased Garrus with now - knowing her luck, she'd probably jinxed herself. She shouldn't have done this mission, damn it. Now everything was all sorts of screwed up, but at least she had stopped the Reapers, for now. She could take some joy in that, at least.