Epilog

A few weeks later:

Kaidan was relieved when his shuttle landed on the Citadel. The last few weeks had been a different kind of war, one he hated almost as much as the battles of the last few years.
While he passed through the docking bays he saw the Normandy, reminding him of the bad memories attached to the war. But also the good times they had had onboard the ship.

Now his days seemed to be an endless grind of ceremonies and speeches. Once the Styx crisis was over he had spent his days in briefings talking and listening to officials speaking of glorious deeds.
He couldn't really complain though, John had the worst of it. John couldn't go anywhere these days without people following him around. Not to mention that the Alliance just loved parading him around as their poster boy.

When the doors to their apartment slid open Kaidan was instantly greeted by John.
"Finally, what took you so long. Kaidan you were gone for three days."

"HA, not all off us can sneak out off Alliance headquarters you know." Kaidan walked over to the kitchen counter dropping his bag.

"I know, but I couldn't stand it anymore. I can't leave this place without someone wanting something from me. And those Admirals are the worst."

"We might have to get used to that, don't think there is anywhere we can go without someone recognizing you now. Besides Admiral Hackett is dead set on getting me to say yes to some desk job in HQ."

John laughed. "Yeah, he's been bothering me with those too. Something about Alliance command needing new leading figures."

"What did you tell him?" Somehow Kaidan just couldn't imagine John sitting behind a desk.

"That he would need to find some other poor fool to take the job."

"That explains why he wants me..." Kaidan noticed that there where a lot of packed boxes in the kitchen.

"John something I should know about?" Kaidan pointed towards the boxes.

"Yeah about that... Do you want the job Hackett is offering?"

Kaidan was puzzled by the sudden change in John's tone. "Not really no, but I would take it if it meant staying close to you."

John scratched the back of his head. "Well I kind off need a commanding officer for a possible mission. So if you don't mind being stuck on a ship with me..."

Kaidan frowned a bit. "So you took a mission without talking to me first?"

"No, well maybe... I sort off already assembled a team and started packing... But I can drop it if you really want to stay on earth." John looked towards his feet, not daring to look in his lovers eyes.

"Depends what are you offering me? Cause Hackett offered a promotion and a big signing bonus."

"Well I can't compete with that. I can only offer you a shelve in the Captains cabin and a long trip away from earth. I could throw in a field promotion once we leave the system. But I promise we wont have to suffer through too many ceremonies and definitely no desk job."

"I'll take it. Now what's this mission of yours?" Kaidan smiled.

"Spectre business, we are to accompany the Geth repair ships that are sent out to rebuild the relays. It's more efficient to sent them since they don't need anything during long FTL travels. We go from system to system and take care of the colonies and home-worlds we can reconnect to."

"So a sort of first contact with our own people? Who else is coming?"

"Most of our former crew will be along for the ride. Seems they all want to get as far away as possible from the attention here on Earth."

Kaidan grabbed John's hand, dragging him along.

"Wait where are we going?" john grinned.

"You know damn well where we are going... Sounds like this mission might take a while, we should really make good use of that whirlpool upstairs while we still can."

about 10 years later:

Admiral Hackett couldn't believe the reports he had just received. Immediately he had ordered the Normandy to come back to the Citadel.

Timing couldn't have been worse, only two weeks to go to the 10th anniversary of the reaper war. And everyone in council space was thrilled that the Normandy would finally come back from their re-unification mission. From all the bad timmings why had it to be now?

But there was no use denying it, Shepard and Alenko had gone missing somewhere behind the Perseus Veil a few weeks ago.
From every report the Geth and Normandy's crew had sent in the last few weeks it had become clear that finding them alive grew more and more unlikely.

The last message from Joker had confirmed his worst fears. The shuttlecraft had been found on a planet with an acidic atmosphere. Only scrap metal was left, The Geth that had been sent to investigate had only found two sets of humanoid bones and a heap of metal that could have been Charles' platform. Apparently the atmospheric disturbance would have blocked every attempt to sent a distress signal.

Only if they would be able to restore some off Charles' datacore would they get some answers of what had happened. Now it was the sad task of Hackett to inform the public of Shepards demise.

Hackett sat at his desk staring at the words he had written down trying to find the right tone.

Deleting his written words he started over again. The public didn't need to know that Shepard might have died an unfortunate death on a toxic planet due to some technical failure.
He started over again.

It is my sad duty to inform you that both:
Captain John Shepard First human spectre and savior of the Galaxy,
and his first officer Commander Kaidan Alenko spectre Hero of the Reaper wars are missing in action...

Decades Later:

Somewhere on a far off planet a small group sat gathered around a groundskeeper. Listening to him tell stories off old wars.

An Asari raised her hand, waiting for permission to speak. "So Shepard wasn't some kind off super human after all?"

The old man smiled. "No, in the end he was just like all the others. He felt fear and pain, he just happened to be the one who got the worst job in the Galaxy. Without his friends he would have been lost."

"I think you're making it all up." Came from a Turian.

"Maybe, maybe not. Still remember Shepards story when you go out there in the Galaxy. He was only a soldier before the war. Wherever your mission might take you remember that if you stick together you can achieve more than any off you could alone." The old man smiled as he saw his friend walk towards him with a bag off fish food.

"Annoying the kids again are we?" the old man mumbled as he walked past the group.

"Just telling old stories." The old man smilled as he saw the other one feeding the fish."

"It's sad." A soft voice spoke.

"What's sad?" The groundskeeper turned towards the Quarian.

"They traveled the stars for years but never did they get to just be together."

"Now now the official records may say that they went missing during their last mission. Personally I like to believe they found a nice place somewhere and just didn't bother to tell anyone."

A Geth walked up to the group reminding the students that the graduation ceremony would be early in the morning. While everyone went their separate ways the Asari turned around. "So why did they have those visions anyway?"

"Some say it was like an Asari mind meld, while others said it was just wishful thinking. I even once heard someone postulate it was a remnant of Shepards encounter with the Protean beacon."

"So what do you think it was?" The Asari eyed up the old groundskeeper while he stared towards the other man.

"I believe it was a bit off everything." The old man smiled as his friend sat next to him on the bench.

The Asari stared long in to the other mans eyes, something seemed familiar about the two elderly men on the bench. She shrugged the feeling off and left them, running towards the graduation ceremony.

"You're telling a lot of horse crap to those kids..." The elderly man smiled.

"What every single word was true."

"Liar, you damn well know that the ring was a protean memory shard and those visions where all connected to the protean cipher."

"Maybe John, maybe. But as long as they believe there is that hint of mystery, that one question that needs answering, someone will go out there to find answers to questions they didn't even ask yet.

They both watched as the sun set on the other side off the lake. In a distance they could hear the graduation ceremony reach it's peak.

"By the way Liara sent a little present, for Shepards day." Kaidan pulled out a small box from under the bench.

"I really wish they would have given this day a different name." Unpacking the box John found a small miniature ship. "Normandy SR-3?"

"The council commissioned a new Normandy for the 50th anniversary." Kaidan grinned.

In the distance the fireworks had started marking the end of the ceremony.

"You know it still amazes me that we can sit right here in the councils academy everyday and no one seems to recognize us." John rested an arm over Kaidan's shoulders while they watched the fireworks together.

Kaidan rested his head on John's shoulder.
"It helps that we have great friends."

It took longer than I was willing to admit to write the ending. I kept changing and rewriting parts, maybe I won't ever be fully happy with the ending myself. Or maybe I just didn't want to end it.
So now I finally gave up changing things and let it be as it is.

I want to thank everyone for reading and my special thanks goes out for those who left me reviews and personal messages in the last few months.