Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect.

A/N: This was made for the kinkmeme.

Two for the Price of One

Chapter 1:

Shepard lay on her bed, staring blankly at the stars past the window on the ceiling of her cabin. She felt like crying, but she wasn't that far gone yet. She hadn't known until now, but she was sure she wouldn't have been so surprised back then. Hell, she could probably cite when and how back then too. But then she got spaced and died without even knowing what she and Kaidan had created and lost.

The Commander of the Normandy ground her teeth to stop a sob from coming out of her mouth. She wasn't ready to lose control of her body. Not yet. Hell, she'd been dead for two years. This… thing… should not have happened at all. At least not until Wilson decided to follow the Illusive Man's orders literally and tried to revive her exactly as she was when she died. Cloned fetus to replace the one she'd been carrying when she got spaced included.

A fetus he didn't tell anyone else and implanted probably a few weeks before she woke up in that damned lab. Or perhaps she just got stuck with the disgruntled employee and her condition was Wilson's last 'fuck you' to Miranda. She vaguely wondered if he'd been found. Perhaps he tried to destroy any evidence of what he did to keep Cerberus from finding out. Playing 'I wonder if…' only irritated her. She couldn't change the past no matter how much she wished she could. Otherwise she wouldn't have missed two years of her life.

Maybe if she went down to the Crew deck and shot Miranda right in the middle of her perfect eyes she'd feel better. God knows she, Jacob and all of Cerberus deserved it even before they screwed her over. But then she'd lose the only woman who even had an idea of what had been done to her. Or at least most of what had been done to her. Shepard had learned enough of her forced XO to know she took the mission seriously and her state clearly compromised the success of it.

She placed a trembling hand on her abdomen. How was she supposed to tell Kaidan when she couldn't even believe it herself? When she hadn't even known back then… He'd probably blame it on some Cerberus plot to do something evil. Her face turned murderous. She'd like to see them try to fuck with her and her own. She didn't doubt her ability to search, find and destroy every single cell of the humanity first organization.

She frowned and several emotions clouded her thoughts. Too many for her to even give name to. There was happiness, anger, frustration and fear. She sighed and slowly climbed out of the bed. Usually being alone in her cabin helped to clear her mind, but not today. Today her thoughts drove her to the brink of tears and she wasn't ready to start bawling her eyes out like a simpering idiot.

She glanced in the mirror and quickly fixed her hair and makeup before leaving her cabin. She might be crumbling inside, but she refused to look the part. The morale of the crew depended on her keeping her wits.
The ride was shorter than she would've liked, but when she stepped out of the elevator and strode towards the Main Battery no one even suspected there might be something wrong with their commander.