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James jogged after Shepard as she stormed out of Med Bay, "Commander!" he called after her.
"What is it, Lieutenant?" she barked, causing a few heads to turn. She never slowed her pace as she headed for the elevator.
James caught up, reached into one of his many pockets, and handed her a worn envelope.
There was no label, no writing what-so-ever, as she turned it over in her hands. "What is this?" she asked, shortly.
"Dunno," he shrugged. "Some intelligence officer gave it to me before you went into that meeting with Anderson back at HQ."
The elevator opened and Shepard turned, without another word to James, and hit the button for the CIC. Once the doors slid shut, she called for Joker to get to the Citadel. He acknowledged as she exited on the main deck and she ignored the voices calling out to her near the galaxy map. Once she'd cleared the guards at the door to the war room, she made her way to vid comm to report in.
After she was done speaking to Admiral Hackett, she took a deep breath and slid down the wall until she landed on her bum. Exhaustion hit her like a speeding skycar. After months of being under house arrest, she done more in the last few hours than she had since the Normandy was manned by a Cerberus crew.
Suddenly remembering the envelope James had given her, she ripped it open to find papers inside. Quite a few pages, in fact. Unfolding the stack, the top page was hand written in a script she didn't recognize. Great, she thought, a letter from some obsessed fan or someone sympathetic to the Batarian cause. But after three pages of unreadable script, her breath caught in her chest when she read one word she could understand: Siha.
Shepard scrambled to her feet and bolted out of vid comm and continued out of the war room. She didn't slow down until she was securely locked away in her cabin.
She took a moment to clear off the table near her couch before spreading out the pages before her. The script she didn't understand must have been in Thane's native tongue.
Thane.
It had been 196 Citadel days since they'd last seen each other. This was the first she'd heard from him at all since turning herself in after Aratoht.
There were 7 pages that covered the glass table top. Shepard began with the first page of what she could understand; the page that began with...
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Siha,
It seems like nothing I have done on my own has reached you. I have received no response to vid mails, emails, or any other way I've attempted contact. While at Huerta Memorial on the Citadel, I came across a kind, young Alliance Officer who said she was headed back to Earth. She promised me she could get this letter to you, so I have burdened her with the task of transcribing my words. (I also wrote them in my own hand, though I know you cannot read it.)
I am glad to know you are alive, Shepard. I and several other members of the crew submitted statements on your behalf in the hopes that the Alliance would be lenient; but all attempts have failed. For that, I am sorry. Were I in better health, I may well have attempted to come and get you myself.
I miss you, Siha. Having been disconnected for so long, I never thought I could feel such a pull for another. I treasure the time we spent together; however short-lived it may have been. Though I think of us often, there are a few memories that I return to almost daily.
Forgive my selfishness, but our first kiss is a moment I find myself lost in more than any other. Do you remember it? I know humans don't have the recall that we Drell do.
"Shepard, I want to thank you," I say, as I look at my Locust on the gun rack. "I never dreamed that I would have a relationship with my son again." You touch my arm, "Our past may shape us, but it doesn't have to be our death sentence," you say. I turn to face you, and I am overwhelmed with emotion as I stare into your eyes. Without permission, I grab you and press my lips to yours. It is a sensation unlike anything I have ever felt. You are tense at first, but then you relax and open yourself to me. Our tongues mingle as our bodies press deeper into each other. I can feel your fingers along my ridges as my hand finds the right spot in the small of your back to make you arch into me. I come to my senses and abruptly pull away, "I am sorry," I say, ashamed at my outburst. "Don't you ever apologize for kissing me like that," you say with a devilish grin.
It seems that memory has made the Alliance Officer blush. I hope you will forgive me for sharing such intimate moments with a stranger. My desperation to reach you has forced me outside of my comfort zone.
"I would love it if you always kiss me goodnight," you once said.
I have been kissing you goodnight every evening since the day you left me on Omega. Whether it is through the memory above, or from any of the hundreds of others I have from our time together; I want you to know that I have kept my promise.
I do not know if I will ever have the opportunity to hold you, smell you, taste you again, but I think of you each and every day. I pray that the gods watch over you and give you the strength you need for the battles ahead. Know there is nothing I would not give to be well enough to fight by your side until my dying breath.
You may forget me once I'm gone, and that is fine. But you are burned into my memory; you are a beacon of light at the end of a dark path. You saved me when I was at my lowest point. You gave me a life worth living when such a thing seemed non-existent. Siha, you must know that I love you.
I love you because you command it; I love you because I am alive again; I love you because your unselfish actions deserve to be praised; I love you because you have such an influence on everything you come into contact with.
I love you because you loved me.
The Officer is crying now. She has asked that you not tell anyone about it.
Should this letter ever reach you, I am now living at Huerta Memorial. Kepral's has taken hold and I require daily medical attention. I hope to see you again someday, Siha.
Until then, I will always kiss you goodnight.